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"There are periods in the history of all organiza- 
tions when it is well to pause and look back, that — 
reducing the past and its varied experiences to a 
single present — a firm and well-defined base may be 
established upon which to erect all future struc- 
tures." — William Chauncy Langdon, "Report to 
the First World's Conference/' Paris, 1855. 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



YOUNG MEN'S 
CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 



VOLUME II 

THE CONFEDERATION PERIOD 
1855-1861 



BY 

LAURENCE L. DOGGETT, Ph. D. 

PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 
COLLEGE, SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS 



ASSOCIATION PRESS 

New York: 347 Madison Ave. 
1922 






Copyright, 1922, by 

The International Committee of 

Young Men's Christian Associations 

Printed in the United States of America 



SEP 1 1 1922 



il.A68!740 
X0 / 



rv- 



PREFACE 



The history of an organization resembles the biog- 
raphy of an individual. The value of each consists not 
only in the character and work of the organization 
or individual, but chiefly in the relation of each to life 
as a whole. The historian of a movement like the 
Young Men's Christian Association is confronted 
with a perplexing multiplicity of events and he must 
have a principle of selection. I have tried from al- 
most a chaos to select those incidents which begot 
the future. If I have failed, I must beg the indulgence 
of my reader, as I have spared neither thought nor 
industry. Events are like children in a large family. 
It is only those members who are to render important 
service to the world in later life whose childhood 
story is significant ; some of them make no contribu- 
tion, others do not make a stir until late in their 
careers. For this reason new developments require 
the rewriting of history. The events and personages 
are the same, but they had an unsuspected meaning. 
A revaluation is necessary. 

Recent progress has made this particularly true of 
the Young Men's Christian Association. The world 
has wondered where this unheeded organization came 
from, where it got its ideals and methods, why it had 
so much enterprise and such great success with the 
armies, why it had the limitations it exhibited and 
made the blunders it did. What is its future and what 
function has it in the new world order? 

I am under great obligation to Jacob T. Bowne, 
librarian of the International Young Men's Christian 
Association College. Mr. Bowne established the his- 



iv PREFACE 

torical library of Association publications which bears 
his name. Without this library it would have been 
impossible to assemble the data necessary for the 
reconstruction of this period. 

The manuscript has been submitted to several of 
my associates on the faculty; also to Richard C. 
Morse and Paul Super. I have asked Robert E. 
Lewis, General Secretary of the Cleveland Associa- 
tion, to make such comments in footnotes as he may 
see fit. I hardly need add that no one except myself 
is responsible for the point of view expressed in this 
monograph. 

L. L. D. 
May, 1922. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter I 

THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 

PAGE 

Sec. 26. — Political Developments 2 

Sec. 27. — Moral and Religious Divisions over Slavery ... 5 

Sec. 28. — Industrial and Economic Developments 23 

Sec. 29. — Problems of the Confederation 29 

Chapter II 

THE LEADERS WHO MOULDED THE THOUGHT AND LIFE OF THE 
CONFEDERATION 

Sec. 30. — William Chauncy Langdon 30 

Sec. 31. — Zalmon Richards 42 

Sec. 32.— William J. Rhees 44 

Sec. 33.— William H. Neff 50 

Sec. 34. — Samuel Lowry, Jr . , 51 

Sec. 35.— H. Thane Miller 54 

Sec. 36. — George H. Stuart • ,. . 56 

Sec. 37. — Howard Crosby 62 

Sec. 38. — Richard C. McCormick 64 

Chapter III 

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 

Sec. 39. — Events of the Period 66 

Sec. 40. — The Washington Administration 68 

Chapter IV 

LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 

Sec. 41. — The Second Central Committee 83 

Sec. 42. — Third Central Committee 90 

Sec. 43.— A Repudiated Leader 100 

Sec. 44. — Student Associations Ill 

Sec. 45. — Administration of the Fourth Central Committee . . 117 



vi CONTENTS 

Chapter V 

INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 

PAGE 

Sec. 46. — Foreign Relations Previous to 1857 122 

Sec. 47. — Langdon's European Tour, 1857 133 

Sec. 48.— Foreign Relations, 1858-1861 141 

Chapter VI 

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS, 1855-1861 

Sec. 49. — George Hitchcock 148 

Sec. 50. — George Williams 149 

Sec. 51.— T. Henry Tarlton 153 

Sec. 52.— W. Edwyn Shipton 154 

Chapter VII 

THE ASSOCIATIONS ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE, 1855-1861 

Sec. -53. — The French and Swiss Associations 166 

Sec. 54. — The Associations in Germany 176 

Sec. 55. — The Geneva Convention, 1858 180 

Chapter VIII 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD 

Characteristics of the Period 185 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bibliography 199 



THE CONFEDERATION PERIOD 



THE CONFEDERATION PERIOD 



CHAPTER I 

THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 

It is our purpose in the coming chapters to discuss 
the development of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation during the critical years from 1855 to 1861. 

The leadership of the movement was soon to be 
transferred to the American side of the Atlantic. The 
American Associations were seeking to find them- 
selves in a new country which during this pre-Civil- 
War period reached a point of economic prosperity 
previously unequalled and then saw that prosperity 
overwhelmed with dire disaster. The Confederation, 
as it was then called, existed during a period of six 
years, torn by political strife over slavery and agitated 
by the threat of approaching civil war. The decade 
before the Civil War saw the economic and industrial 
transition to modern conditions. It was a period 
during which the churches were divided sectionally 
over slavery and during which the agitation of this 
issue produced a great moral enthusiasm in the 
North. This, combined with the serious frame of 
mind resulting from the financial collapse of 1857, 
produced the most stirring and far-reaching religious 
revival the country had ever experienced — a revival 
in which at its inception in New York City the Asso- 
ciation was the leading factor and in the promotion of 



2 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

which the Associations of the country were the chief 
agents. 

It is necessary to examine very briefly the life of 
the nation during these six years in order to under- 
stand the problem of our organization which was 
gradually awakening to national self-consciousness. 

Could a religious movement inaugurated and pro- 
moted by laymen endure? Could such an organiza- 
tion find a needed sphere of service ? Could it clearly 
define its own mission and also have the power of 
consecutive service necessary for fruitful success? It 
is true that this experience demonstrated the insuffi- 
ciency of volunteer leadership unaided by employed 
officers and revealed by the method of "trial and 
error" many things the Association should not at- 
tempt. But it did show how volunteers can have a 
wide vision, can cooperate in a sensible and unselfish 
manner, and can be depended upon to arrive ulti- 
mately, even though instinctively, unerringly at the 
right decision. While wrong decisions were reached 
at many conventions of the Confederation, the imme- 
diate matters of chief importance were always settled 
right. This chapter is a triumph for democracy. The 
Confederation was always sound on the great ques- 
tion of the founding of the international alliance of 
the American Associations and it is because this was 
accomplished in the manner it was that the Associa- 
tions of all time are indebted to Langdon and the 
young men of 1855-1861. 

Sec. 26. — Political Developments 

The years from 1855 to 1861 were dominated in the 
nation at large by the struggle between the pro- 
slavery forces of the South and the anti-slavery forces 
of the North. Friends of the South in the North and 
many persons in the North who feared the disruption 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 3 

of the Union opposed all anti-slavery Yneasures and 
deprecated anti-slavery agitation. But gradually and 
irresistibly the North became united in its opposition 
to the extension of slavery and the South became 
"solid" in its determination to defend to the utter- 
most its peculiar institution. Step by step the con- 
flict developed until the one side came to look upon 
the slave as property, and the other, having less 
pecuniary interest at stake, looked upon the slave as 
a man. During the six years which preceded the out- 
break of the Civil War the question of slavery de- 
termined every election of importance, state or na- 
tional. It also dominated every significant act passed 
by Congress and every step taken by the national 
Administration. 

The first American convention of the Young Men's 
Christian Association when it met at Buffalo in 1854 
had a young man from Kentucky as its most influen- 
tial leader. The election of Mr. Helme of New Or- 
leans as president of the convention was a guarantee 
that slavery should not be discussed, but the introduc- 
tion of an anti-slavery resolution by the one delegate 
present from Canada showed how difficult it was to 
smother this issue even in a small gathering of thirty- 
seven young men who had met for a national, altruis- 
tic purpose. 

The historic Missouri Compromise of 1820 had 
been accepted in the North as a sacred pledge that 
slavery would never be extended north of 36 de- 
grees 30 minutes latitude. For thirty years this 
agreement had maintained peace between the two 
sections and preserved the Union. 

The annexation of the great territory of Texas and 
the Mexican War undertaken at the behest of the 
slavery leaders to extend slave territory reawakened 
the slumbering apprehension in the North. The bill 
admitting Texas provided that it might be divided 



4 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

into four states. As each of these would have two 
senators, there would be eight votes added to the 
strength of the "solid South" in the Senate. In 1850 
Clay and Webster engineered the second great com- 
promise on the slavery issue. The North, for the sake 
of peace and union, accepted the ignoble fugitive slave 
law. The South agreed that the partition of Texas 
should be postponed. California was admitted as a 
free state. The region intervening between Texas 
and California, then called New Mexico, was or- 
ganized as a territory without the "Wilmot proviso" 
against slavery. 

Peace between the two sections seemed restored, 
but the "irrepressible conflict" was only delayed a few 
brief years. With scarcely a note of warning Senator 
Douglas, in his hope of securing the support of the 
South for his presidential aspirations, threw the whole 
question again into the caldron of discussion by the 
Kansas-Nebraska bill. 

This bill provided that the power of Congress to 
decide on the extension of slavery into new territories 
be abrogated and that the question be left for "local 
sovereignty" to determine. Thus the whole question 
of slavery extension was to be decided by the party 
which could muster the most votes at the time of the 
adoption of a constitution by a new state. This was 
the most important political step in fomenting the 
bitter anti-slavery agitation between 1855-1861. It 
showed that the South was determined to extend 
slavery. It brought on the struggle over Kansas, led 
to the formation of the Republican party, the unify- 
ing of the North against slavery, and the election of 
Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. 

Jefferson Davis, who was the leader of the extreme 
slave party in the Senate, maintained not only the 
doctrine of Calhoun that the Constitution permitted 
slavery in the territories, but went further and de- 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 5 

manded that slave owners were entitled to the pro- 
tection of their property in new territories belonging 
to the national government. He did not hesitate on 
July 6, 1860, at the Democratic State Convention of 
Mississippi to declare, "In the contingency of the 
election of a President on the platform of Mr. 
Seward's Rochester speech, let the Union be dis- 
solved." ("History of the U. S.," Rhodes, Vol. II, 
p. 373.) 

By 1860 there was also a pronounced agitation in 
the South for the revival of the African slave trade. 

These political questions filled the minds of the 
young men and their advisers who were active in the 
work of the Young Men's Christian Association. 
They were of especial moment to those who wished 
the organization to become not a local but a national 
movement. 

Sec. 27. — Moral and Religious Divisions over Slavery 

But even more than the political, the moral issue 
raised by slavery was a challenge to any organization 
which bore the name of Christian. The publication 
of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe 
synchronized with the establishment of the New 
York Young Men's Christian Association in 1852. 
The fugitive slave law of 1850 had aroused the sym- 
pathy of many Christian people in the North, and 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" "was an outburst of passion 
against a wrong done to a race." ("History of U. S.," 
Rhodes, Vol. I, p. 279.) Three hundred thousand 
copies were sold the first year of its appearance and 
the sale soon reached a million and a half copies. The 
book was dramatized and translated into twenty 
languages. 

(Report of Investigating Committee of New York 
City Association, 1857, p. 7.) 

In 1853 the library committee of the New York 



6 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

Association aroused considerable stir by excluding as 
the report states "a book called 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' " 
This controversy led to a careful definition of the 
powers of the library committee. Its action, however, 
was sustained, a vote by the board being passed as 
follows, "Resolved that the library committee have 
power to exclude from the library such books as in 
their judgment are improper." An effort was made 
at the next meeting of the board to require the library 
committee "to report all works excluded and a state- 
ment of their reasons for such exclusion." This 
motion was laid on the table and the young men of 
the New York Association were protected from the 
influence of Harriet Beecher Stowe's volume. The 
fatherly and sheltering practice of the leaders at this 
time is indicated in the president's report for 1853 
where he says : "It is not deemed proper that this 
library should contain all works from the press. 
Theories and opinions of every shade are freely 
spread upon the printed page — so that youth is com- 
pelled to pass an ordeal which, though it may possibly 
strengthen and expand the mind of a few, will prove 
fatal to others." Out of 1,009 volumes 383 were listed 
as "moral and religious works" and the chairman of 
the library committee remarks reluctantly, "While it 
has been our determination to exclude novels and 
romances, we have felt it incumbent on us to admit, 
to some extent, works of fiction acknowledged to be 
of a sound moral and religious character." 

Anti-slavery sentiment evidently developed in the 
New York Association until it was the attitude of the 
dominant element of the members. Discussion over 
this issue reduced and nearly disrupted the organiza- 
tion. While the New York Association never yielded 
to the attempts of some of the zealous members to 
secure the passage of resolutions denouncing slavery, 
nevertheless the agitation lost to the Association 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 7 

financial support and the sympathy of a considerable 
portion of the community. The conservative ele- 
ment, which was made up of many ("Life of Mc- 
Burney," pp. 40-41) of the leading young men in 
business circles in the city, to the number of 150, de- 
cided to withdraw in a body. Their resignations were 
all signed to one paper; but the other party learned 
of this effort of the "dough-faces" and created not a 
little surprise when the resignations were presented 
by announcing a list equally long of new applicants 
for membership. The young men who withdrew 
were, however, more influential and the prosperity of 
the New York Association seriously declined. 

The character of the agitation can be seen from the 
following incidents recorded in a report of twenty- 
four printed pages issued in 1857 by a special "inves- 
tigating committee" appointed by the members of the 
New York Association to investigate the action of the 
board of directors in expelling the committee on 
rooms and library which occurred after a number of 
stormy meetings. 

In the summer of 1856 a number of the Associa- 
tion members ("Life of McBurney," p. 40) were 
active in the Fremont campaign and figured in a pro- 
cession given that summer. 

(These statements are based on notes taken by the 
author in an interview with Cephas Brainerd in 
1901.) "This procession was savagely caricatured by 
the New York Express, a rather violent political 
organ. The chairman of the library committee, Mr. 
George P. Edgar, excluded the Express from the 
rooms of the Association in August, 1856. This was 
done simply by stopping the subscription which 
caused no trouble; but the ground of the action be- 
came noised about and the Express began an attack 
on the Association as a political organization. Mr. 
Edgar on his own responsibility, and other members, 



8 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

replied through the columns of the Post. During 
December, 1856, and January, 1857, a heated news- 
paper controversy was waged. The board of direc- 
tors voted to expel the library committee and to re- 
turn the Express to the Association reading rooms. A 
committee of the Association appointed to investigate 
the affair, after extended and animated hearings, re- 
ported that the library committee had not been fairly 
dealt with and asked for the resignation of the entire 
board of directors." 

(Langdon, "Early Story of the Confederation," 
Year Book, 1888, p. 21.) 

Langdon relates at the first public anniversary of 
the Washington Association, July, 1852: "We were 
addressed by a Southerner, the Hon. Robert M. 
Charlton, United States Senator from Georgia. On 
the next public occasion it was therefore necessary to 
invite a Northerner and accordingly the Hon. Robert 
C. Winthrop of Boston was asked for the December 
following. We were forced to consider national prej- 
udices and even politics in everything. At a meeting 
of the board of managers, September 27, one of our 
Southern members — to quote my diary — 'threw a 
firebrand among us by an attempt to expel the Na- 
tional Era, an abolition newspaper, from our reading 
rooms. The bringing in of politics was most desper- 
ately opposed by "several of us" and the casus belli 
was laid on the table for the present.' " 

While the slavery issue was a menace to the in- 
ternal development of 1 ocal Associations with a di- 
vided membership like those of Washington and New 
York, it was a still greater obstacle in the pathway 
of an international organization. Langdon stated 
(1855 Report, p. 74) in his report to the Second An- 
nual Convention that the Baltimore Association 
"earnestly requests that the Convention be assured 
that it is not from the want of the most sincere and 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 9 

thorough Christian sympathy and affection toward 
the cause in which their brethren are engaged that 
they withhold their participation therein, but from 
the belief, founded on reasons elaborately urged in 
the report, that permanent harmony cannot be se- 
cured from the elements of which the Confederation 
is composed." 

The opposition of Howard Crosby, president of the 
New York Association, has been mentioned in our 
discussion of the founding of the early Associations. 
(See Vol. I, p. 132.) He did not believe a national 
organization could be established. 

Through his influence the New York City Associa- 
tion refused to enter the Confederation. It was un- 
willing to take its natural place of leadership as the 
largest Association in the country. (New York City 
Report, 1854, p. 11.) 

The New Orleans Association in a letter to the Con- 
vention held at Cincinnati in 1855 writes (Cincinnati 
Convention Report, 1855, p. 51) : "As a band of Chris- 
tians, as friends, and as countrymen you have been 
called together and are therefore prepared no doubt to 
yield private opinions for the general good. Differ- 
ences must of course exist, but they need not mar the 
peace of the body. Let each forget for the time his 
sectional prejudices and legislate for the good of the 
whole. Then will the croaking of our enemies be 
silenced." 

On the other hand, in Associations in sections 
where strong abolition sentiments prevailed there was 
a growing determination not to compromise on the 
slavery issue. Many believed they would sacrifice 
their Christian principles by fellowshipping with any 
religious organization which was silent on this issue. 

Speaking of the first Convention at Buffalo in 1854, 
Langdon relates : "Mr. Holland of Toronto offered 
a resolution which illustrated the ground of oppo- 



10 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

sition to the Convention. It was to the effect that 
'as in Christ Jesus there is neither bound nor free,' 
therefore that all young men 'of whatever degree 
or condition in life' be invited to an equal partici- 
pation in the advantages of the Association. This 
resolution was without debate referred to the busi- 
ness committee and not reported. It was at that time 
the only course which could possibly have been taken. 
As long as slavery existed, certain social results fol- 
lowed. The Young Men's Christian Association 
neither could deal nor did it propose to deal with the 
institution itself. To what practical purpose were 
any resolutions of protest or nonrecognition of those 
social results? At the adjournment the president, 
Mr. Helme of New Orleans, frankly admitted that 
great fears had been entertained that the Convention 
would be the scene of wrangling and strife, that sec- 
tional questions would be agitated. Had the Holland 
resolution been admitted to debate these fears would 
have been realized, that they were not is the more 
remarkable in such a body of Northern young men." 

But this lack of action at the Convention did not 
satisfy the Toronto Association. This Association at 
first approved the founding of the Confederation and 
then sought to induce the Central Committee to take 
a stand against slavery. 

The great task confronting Langdon and the 
newly appointed "Central Committee'" was to secure 
enough Associations as members of the proposed 
Confederation to establish it authoritatively. They 
found the slavery issue their chief obstacle and were 
compelled to take action announcing their policy. 
("Early Story of the Confederation," Year Book, 
1888, pp. 36-37.) The Association at Toronto through 
its corresponding secretary, C. R. Brooks, addressed 
the Central Committee on this subject. Brooks 
was also the Canadian representative on the Central 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 11 

Committee. He proposed that the Central Commit- 
tee incorporate in the organic law of the Associations 
some provisions recognizing the rights of Christian 
slaves to become members of the Association "as a 
principle which should be adopted as fundamental by 
any Confederation of Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciations. " Brooks stated that the Toronto Asso- 
ciation had ratified the resolution to join the Confed- 
eration only by a small majority and "in the hope that 
when the Central Committee should adopt a constitu- 
tion, some such principle would be proposed to the 
Associations as a test of their connection with one 
another." 

"The Southern Associations on the other hand 
were equally sensitive of anything which would re- 
flect on the Christian principle with which they con- 
formed to the social and political conditions under 
which they were constituted and under which alone 
of course they could do their work. Some of these 
therefore were unwilling to expose themselves to 
having these principles called to question — as for in- 
stance : Baltimore, Charleston, and indeed the Asso- 
ciation at New Orleans also." 

The Central Committee accordingly issued a cir- 
cular on November 18, 1854, stating that the Central 
Committee (Cincinnati Convention Report, 1855, p. 
105) was "not a ruling power, but an agent" through 
which the local Associations might act and that it had 
no power whatever to adopt a constitution for the 
Confederation. 

Toronto and Providence at once withdrew. The 
Pittsburgh Association wrote that they would send 
delegates to the Cincinnati Convention only on the 
condition "that they should be free to bear their con- 
scientious testimony against what they believed to be 
a national sin." 

Langdon decided to stand firm on the position that 



12 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

it was not the province of the Central Committee to 
pass on the slavery issue. 

The question of the autonomy of the local Associa- 
tion was also involved. 

Five additional Associations refused to enter the 
Confederation — Portland, Maine; Boston; Brooklyn; 
Detroit, and Nashville. 

The slavery issue even appeared at the World's 
Convention held at Paris in 1855. Through the re- 
quest of the American delegate, Rev. Abel Stevens of 
New York City, a resolution was adopted as a part 
of the Paris Basis, which after referring to the faith 
and object of the Associations states: "That any 
differences of opinion on other subjects, however im- 
portant in themselves, but not embraced in the 
specific designs of the Associations, shall not inter- 
fere with the harmonious relations of the Confed- 
erated Societies." 

How interwoven with the life of its times is any 
vital organization! This simple society for the spirit- 
ual welfare of young men made necessary by the new 
urban conditions which industry was creating found 
itself even before it could realize its corporate exist- 
ence tossed on the waves of political strife and social 
unrest. 

As the controversy over slavery waxed more in- 
tense so the difficulties of the national organization 
increased. It is no wonder when one considers the 
experience of the different denominations that Asso- 
ciation leaders despaired of creating a national or- 
ganization and it is a proof of Langdon's statesman- 
ship that one was successfully established. 

In 1850 the churches were already divided on this 
issue. In the Senate Calhoun said: "The cords that 
bind the States together are not only many but vari- 
ous in character. Some are spiritual or ecclesiastical ; 
some political, others social. The strongest are those 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 13 

of a religious nature, but they have begun to snap. 
The great Methodist Episcopal Church has divided. 
There is a Methodist Church North and a Methodist 
Church South and they are hostile. The Protestant 
organization next in size, the Baptist Church, has 
likewise fallen asunder. The cord which binds the 
Presbyterian Church is not entirely snapped, but 
some of its strands have given way." ("History of 
U. S.," Rhodes, Vol. I, p. 128.) 

In 1854 during its passage the Kansas-Nebraska 
act had called out a petition of protest to Congress 
which was signed by Rev. Stephen H. Tyng of New 
York, one of the vice-presidents of the New York 
Association and a delegate to the Paris Convention 
of 1855, by Rev. G. T. Bedell, and Chancellor Isaac 
Ferris, both of whom attended and addressed the 
meeting at which the New York Association was or- 
ganized (1852), and by Rev. Theo. L. Cuyler, who 
was the most active clergyman in New York in sup- 
porting the work of the Association. 

Rev. Lyman Beecher of Boston joined in a similar 
protest signed by 3,050 out of 3,800 clergymen of 
New England. Mr. Beecher had delivered the address 
at the founding of the Boston Association and was 
one of the four clergymen upon whose advice the 
evangelical church basis for active membership was 
adopted by the Boston society. 

This petition was couched in strong language. 
("History of U. S.," Rhodes, Vol. I, p. 478.) It said: 
"The undersigned clergymen of different religious 
denominations in New England, hereby in the name 
of Almighty God and in his presence do solemnly pro- 
test against the passage of what is known as the Ne- 
braska bill. . . . We protest against it as a great moral 
wrong, as a breach of faith eminently unjust to the 
moral principles of the community and subversive of 
all confidence in national engagements ; as a measure 



14 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

full of danger to the peace and even the existence of 
our beloved Union and exposing us to the righteous 
judgments of the Almighty." 

("History of U. S.," Rhodes, Vol. II, p. 152.) The 
Kansas-Nebraska bill of 1854 which permitted slavery 
in a new territory, but left it for the people to decide 
whether the territory upon becoming a state should 
exclude or permit slavery, brought on the armed con- 
flict over slavery in Kansas. The North hastened into 
Kansas settlers who favored freedom. These men 
were armed with "Sharp's rifles," then considered 
superior weapons. The slavery leaders of the South 
in a similar manner sent armed representatives to the 
debated territory. Early in 1856 Buford's battalion 
of 280 armed men assembled at Montgomery, Ala- 
bama, in the Baptist Church. "The Methodist minis- 
ter solemnly invoked the divine blessing on the enter- 
prise. The Baptist pastor gave Buford a finely bound 
Bible and said that a subscription had been raised to 
present each emigrant with a copy of the Holy Scrip- 
tures. ... A distinguished citizen made an address, 
saying, 'on them rested the future welfare of the 
South; they were armed with the Bible, a weapon 
more potent than Sharp's rifles.' " 

Mr. Rhodes in his history of this period further 
states (Vol. II, p. 153) : "The most warlike demon- 
stration and one which excited the greatest attention, 
was at New Haven, Conn. Charles B. Lines, a deacon 
of a New Haven Congregational Church, had enlisted 
a company of seventy-nine emigrants. A meeting 
for the purpose of raising funds was held in the church 
shortly before their departure. Many clergymen 
and many of the Yale College faculty were present. 
The leader of the party said that Sharp's rifles were 
lacking, and that they were needed for self-defense. 
After an earnest address by Henry Ward Beecher, the 
subscription began. Professor Silliman started it with 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 15 

one Sharp's rifle; the pastor of the church gave the 
second; other gentlemen and some ladies followed 
their example. "As fifty was the number wanted, 
Beecher said that if twenty-five were pledged on the 
spot, Plymouth Church would furnish the rest. The 
number of rifles wanted was subscribed. Previous to 
this meeting Beecher had declared that for the slave 
holders of Kansas the Sharp's rifle was a greater moral 
agency than the Bible and from that time the favorite 
arms of the Northern emigrants became known as 
"Beecher's Bibles." The anti-slavery tide rose higher 
and higher in the North and the determination to 
maintain slavery even to the point of secession 
strengthened in the South. The difficulties of pre- 
serving the unity of the Confederation increased. The 
Southern Associations were given every considera- 
tion. The International Convention was held in 1857 
at Richmond, in 1858 at Charleston, in 1860 at New 
Orleans, and the one for 1861 was scheduled for St. 
Louis. At the New Orleans Convention W. F. Mun- 
ford of Richmond was chosen president. The attend- 
ance of delegates at these conventions was larger 
from the South than from the North. The Central 
Committee for 1860 was located at Richmond. The 
Association at New Orleans issued a magazine which 
circulated widely among other Associations. 

Affectionate greetings and interchange of good fel- 
lowship neutralized to a degree feelings of antago- 
nism, but these could not alter the fact of a widening 
divergence of conviction. At the Montreal Conven- 
tion the delegates were given a reception on the top 
of Mount Royal. At Richmond an entire day was 
spent in an excursion into the surrounding country, 
and at Troy, in 1859, the largest convention of this 
period, the nearly 300 delegates were taken in a body 
by the Troy Association to Saratoga Springs, where 
a dinner with post-prandial speeches was served in 



16 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

truly modern style. But none of these occasions 
equalled the reception extended at Charleston in 1858 
and at New Orleans in 1860. As if shrinking from 
imminent separation the fellowship of these co-work- 
ers was the more intense. 

At the Charleston Convention the first afternoon in 
place of formal addresses of welcome was spent in a 
sail around the harbor and a picnic on Sullivan Island. 
The Report (1858, p. 11) states "that the steamer 
sailed past Fort Sumter to Sullivan Island . . . mar- 
tial music waking patriotic echoes . . . under the gen- 
tle reign of peace, on the spot where patriot blood was 
shed . . . when independence was born and present 
national happiness ushered in." The report speaks 
of the influence of this social fellowship as a bond of 
union which would "long survive the separation and 
vicissitudes of life." At New Orleans in 1860 the 
hymn of welcome written for the occasion says, 
"Here we meet in unity." The entire convention 
marched later in the procession at the unveiling of a 
statue of Henry Clay. In his address of welcome at 
the opening of the Convention, Rev. J. B. Walker 
said, "We know no North, no South, no East, no 
West, but love our common country from ocean wave 
to ocean wave and for the preservation of the institu- 
tions of that country we will labor with men and 
intercede with God." 

Fort Sumter was fired on one year later on April 
12, 1861. President Lincoln issued his first call for 
troops on April 15. On May 6, as a last appeal for 
peace, William T. Munford of Richmond jointly with 
Joel B. Watkins, former chairman of the Central 
Committee, addressed the following communication 
to the "Young Men's Christian Associations of North 
America" : 

"Brethren: We have determined, by the help of 
God, to address you in the character of peace-makers. 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 17 

In connection with the Confederacy of Christian As- 
sociations, we trust that we have secured the confi- 
dence and love of many of your members and we are 
conscious that we sincerely reciprocate their senti- 
ments. You will then regard with some respect the 
statements we may make in reference to the present 
condition of our country. Many of those who par- 
ticipated with us in the Christian fellowship which 
was exhibited by the delegates from the various parts 
of our beloved country at the annual conventions held 
in Troy, Charleston, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and New 
Orleans, will doubtless be willing to unite with us in 
an earnest effort for the restoration of peace and 
goodwill between the contending parties. 

"Through the distorting medium of the press, there 
is a misunderstanding between the North and the 
South as to their respective positions. If there could 
be a fair representation of the sentiments of the bet- 
ter portion of the people at the North and the South, 
we should not present the melancholy spectacle of a 
great nation involved in a civil war, which must be 
productive of the most disastrous consequences to the 
material and spiritual interests of each section. The 
separation of the South from the North is irrevocable, 
and the sooner this great fact is acknowledged by the 
nations of the earth the better will it be for the in- 
terests of humanity. The conquest of either section 
by the other is impossible. You can have no doubt of 
the truth of this proposition, if you consider the teach- 
ing of all history in regard to the ability of an invaded 
country to repel its invaders, where the numbers are 
nearly equally divided, and the courage of each is un- 
questioned. In the present contest there is a una- 
nimity of sentiment on the part of the South to main- 
tain its independence and to repel invasion, which has 
been unexampled in the history of the world. In this 
community almost every person capable of bearing 



18 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

arms is ready to volunteer in the service of the State. 
Our Association, and even the ministry, is largely 
represented in the ranks of the army. The South has 
no desire to invade the soil of the North, or to take 
from it any of its rights. We only ask to be permitted 
to govern ourselves in accordance with the principles 
which were guaranteed in the Constitution of the 
United States, and which were maintained by the 
North and the South in the Revolutionary War. The 
wisest and best men of both sections recognized these 
principles, and we do not now advocate a war of 
aggression or conquest. 

"As Christians let us discountenance the misrepre- 
sentations of each other, which are so frequently 
made, and let us labor earnestly in the cause of peace. 
In November last, we united in a call upon the Presi- 
dent of the United States for the appointment of a day 
of humiliation and prayer to Almighty God for a 
blessing on our country, and in answer to our prayers 
the fratricidal hand has thus far been withheld by a 
merciful providence. Let us again unite our prayers 
and efforts for the restoration of peace and goodwill 
between the Northern and Southern Confederacies. 

"With the sincere hope that we may be able to con- 
gratulate you at our approaching Convention in St. 
Louis upon this auspicious result, we remain yours, 
fraternally, 

"Wm. P. Munford, 
"Joel B. Watkins, 
"Wm. H. Gwarthmey." 

On May 14 the New York City Association replied 
as follows : 

"Bible House, New York, May 14, 1861. 
"To Wm. P. Munford, Joel B. Watkins, Wm. H. 
Gwarthmey. 
"Gentlemen: Your letter of the 6th inst. has just 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 19 

reached me. Like every other document which comes 
from the South, there is in your letter a mixture of 
truth and error. For instance, you say, 'Through the 
distorting medium of the press there is a misunder- 
standing between the North and South.' Now it is 
true that the press has 'distorted' the truth in certain 
instances in the North, and entirely suppressed it in 
the South in every instance where it did not accord 
with the interests of slavery. But I cannot believe 
there is any longer a 'misunderstanding between the 
North and the South.' There is but one question 
now — viz. : Have Southerners the right to rule the 
Union until they lose an election and then destroy it? 

"The South says, 'Yes.' Young and old, rich and 
poor, educated and ignorant, religious and uncon- 
verted, North, East, and West, say 'No.' 

"The whole North recognizes the war as a holy 
effort to maintain good government. The cross up- 
holds the flag on our churches, and in every assembly 
the good old Union hymns are sung amid tears and 
cheers of generous, godly people who yet love you and 
pray for you, though they deny, and will die before 
they will consent to, the right of secession. The only 
possible way for us to consent to separation is through 
a National Convention. Come back to your alle- 
giance, call such a convention by your votes in Con- 
gress, and you can certainly go. This will be regular. 
But our very existence is imperilled by your hideous 
'secession.' No government could stand a year upon 
such a basis. We never can admit it. We are not ig- 
norant of loss and hardship, and we can learn death. 
But we cannot consent to throw away that for which 
our fathers fought nor to call our glorious govern- 
ment a failure. 

"Indulge me in one word more. Slavery is wrong, 
you have determined to defend that wrong. You have 
counted no cost in defending it even before it was as- 



20 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

sailed but have been willing even to destroy our gov- 
ernment for fear it might be. May God forgive you; 
your position is utterly false and my heart bleeds that 
men calling themselves Christians can connect them- 
selves with so wicked a cause, even calling it holy and 
daring to compare it with that of our God-protected 
fathers ! ! 

"Your Christians will meet ours in battle. The 7th 
regiment of New York numbers many of our mem- 
bers ; the 12th and the 71st as well; and tomorrow the 
9th takes others — active earnest Christians. Doctor 
Tyng's son is second in command of a company now 
in Washington. My friend, Mr. Abbot, correspond- 
ing secretary of the Trenton Association, is also un- 
der arms. Mr. Haddock of Troy writes me the same. 

"Upon you and your 'institution' must rest the re- 
sponsibility of this fratricidal war, and shirk it or dis- 
semble it how you may, God will require an account 
of every man who abets the treason of the South. I 
cannot pray for the Southern Confederacy. 

"Noble Heath, Jr., 
"Cor. Sec, N. Y. Young Men's Christian Association." 

The leaders of the Association had struggled for 
nine years to eliminate slavery discussion and all 
agitation from its religious meetings and its inter- 
national convention programs. 

It was this experience with slavery agitation and 
later with the prohibition of the liquor traffic which 
has led the Association to become neutral on all 
moral questions when they become political issues. 
The same difficulty has arisen more recently over the 
economic struggle between "Capital and Labor." 
Robert R. McBurney of New York City, the most in- 
fluential leader of the Association movement, in 1888 
announced as one of the nine settled principles of the 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 21 

organization "that when questions of moral reform 
become political party questions, our Association, as 
such, can have no connection with them." 

One must with reluctance admit the necessity for 
this policy on the part of an interdenominational in- 
ternational organization. If it is to survive it must 
not as an organization engage in a contest for the ad- 
vancement of this or that current movement for right- 
eousness. However burning your zeal for social 
justice, your enthusiasm for prohibition, or your 
eagerness to free the slave, you cannot advocate your 
cause on the platform of an interdenominational in- 
ternational religious association for the salvation of 
young men without disrupting the organization. Be- 
fore the Civil War the Association had but a partial 
existence nationally and would have disappeared as a 
national organization entirely if the views of the Con- 
gregationalists of New England on slavery or of the 
Southern Methodists of Georgia on the same theme 
were allowed to be expressed on the platform of the 
International conventions. 

The question is whether there is an adequate per- 
manent field for an organization which devotes itself 
to the religious education of young men and boys, 
which inculcates the teachings of Jesus Christ, but 
which must refrain from urging their application to a 
particular situation as soon as this becomes a party 
political issue, that is, as soon as there is a prospect of 
the ideal being practically realized. This would seem 
to paralyze action at the very moment when it was 
worth while and most needed. It seems like deser- 
tion of the right and cowardice in the face of opposi- 
tion. 

The answer is : that the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation is not the only agency for action or expres- 
sion; the members under the inspiration of its teach- 
ing should as citizens and Christians organize or ally 



22 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

themselves under other auspices with persons like- 
minded with themselves for the immediate reform or 
promotion of the moral issue at stake. McBurney 
illustrated this method when he joined with Anthony 
Comstock in founding the Society for the Suppression 
of Vice rather than carry on that work under the New 
York Association with which it originated. Later 
Association leaders have taken a prominent part in 
promoting the Playground Movement of America, the 
Boy Scout organization, and the Laymen's Mission- 
ary Movement.* 

The period under discussion was one when the As- 
sociation was seeking to find itself. It did not succeed 
in doing so completely; it floundered and in the main 
failed to discover its true mission, but it took one step 
forward by elimination. The leaders of the Associa- 
tion recognized that the Association was not to be- 
come a society for moral reform by means of political 
action. There have been some notable exceptions to 
this practice. As soon as the North was committed 
to the war for the Union, the Associations of the 
North allied themselves with all the zeal and enthusi- 
asm of young manhood with the cause of the Union. 
Enlisting was stimulated, funds were raised, and the 
great work of the United States Christian Commis- 
sion was established. During the great World War 
there has been a similar outburst of unanimity which 
has overridden all counsels of neutrality. The Asso- 
ciations entered the war as a holy crusade against 

*Glen K. Shurtleff (General Secretary, Cleveland, 1893-1909) was 
the most constructive social mind in the general secretaryship. He 
formed a Social Service Club of influential and growing Cleve- 
landers who promoted investigations and reform through various 
organizations or efforts independent of the Association organization. 
The founding of the Juvenile Court, the building and operation by 
the city of public bath houses, the founding of The Municipal Asso- 
ciation and Civic League, the reform of the Jury System, and the 
calling of several successive national conferences on social service 
were conspicuous results. — R. E. Lewis. 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 23 

despotism and militarism. The Association buildings 
of England and Canada were often enlisting head- 
quarters. American Associations both local and mili- 
tary became the centers of political discussion. In- 
struction to the soldiers in the war aims of the gov- 
ernment was one of the great services rendered by the 
"Red Triangle ,, huts. 

Whether the avoidance of questions of moral re- 
form when they are adopted by political parties will 
continue to be the policy of the future is difficult to 
foretell. The International Convention for 1919 held 
at Detroit approved the declaration of the Federal 
Council of Churches supporting many of Labor's con- 
tentions against Capital and many students at the 
recent Student Volunteer Convention at Des Moines 
returned home dissatisfied because of the "stand pat" 
attitude of that Convention and the obscuring of the 
social message. Several of the large forum meetings 
held on Sunday afternoons, like the one at the Bed- 
ford Branch, Brooklyn, or at Springfield, Mass., are 
open for the discussion of live current issues but in the 
industrial x\ssociations the secretaries must hold an 
independent position between Capital and Labor. It 
may be said, however, that for the fifty years follow- 
ing 1855 the experience with the slavery issue estab- 
lished the principle of neutrality on political questions 
for the Young Men's Christian Association. 



Sec. 28. — Industrial and Economic Developments 

The decade preceding the Civil War saw important 
steps in the transition of American life from the agri- 
cultural to the industrial stage. The prosperity of 
this period has already been mentioned. This was 
practically uninterrupted in the South and continued 
until the panic of 1857 in the North and the West. 

Slavery was the cornerstone of Southern prosper- 



24 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

ity; cotton and rice depended on slave labor for profit- 
able production. 

("History of U. S.," Rhodes, Vol. I, p. 497.) The 
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854 raised 
the hope of the extension of slavery into Kansas. "It 
was thought in the border states that if a new slave 
state could be created it would add five per cent to the 
value of slaves, which were already very high. The 
planters in the cotton states being buyers of negroes 
did not regard the rise of value as an unmixed good 
but they did not grumble. They cast about for a 
remedy. The reopening of the African slave trade 
began to be discussed seriously in South Carolina and 
Mississippi." 

While the rest of the country was still struggling 
with depression, the South went prosperously on its 
way. Mr. Rhodes quotes from the New York Times 
of March, 1859, as follows : "There is no disputing the 
fact," writes a correspondent from New Orleans, 
"that the Southern portion of the Confederacy is in a 
highly prosperous condition — perhaps never more so. 
Of all the great staples produced, the crops during the 
past year have been abundant, sales active, and prices 
high. . . . No species of property has felt the effect 
of this state of affairs more sensibly than the negroes. 
The average price of field hands may be stated at 
$1,500 and the tendency is upward. Al 'niggers' sell 
for $1,750 to $2,000. These rates were never reached 
but once before. . . . The South is getting out of debt 
and beginning to accumulate surplus capital." 

It is true that the "poor whites" of the South were 
indigent and could not compete with slave labor, but 
they never set themselves against the system. 

In spite of the supposed cheapness of slave labor it 
is an interesting economic fact that the free industrial 
states of the North were steadily and unmistakably 
outstripping the slave states of the South. The period 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 25 

we are discussing closed with a disastrous panic and 
a devastating civil war, and yet before the slave 
power fell the free states had gained an unapproach- 
able economic supremacy. They had entered upon 
the industrial age which is only fairly beginning with 
the New South of the present time. In fact, the rapid 
increase in population and wealth of the North over 
the South was one of the reasons leading to secession. 
The slave leaders saw both economic and political 
supremacy irrevocably slipping from their grasp. 

What was the cause of the rapid rise to industrial 
power of the North ? The answer is : Intelligent free 
labor and the introduction of the railroad, the tele- 
graph, and agricultural and manufacturing machin- 
ery. 

The descendants of the Puritans had peopled and 
conquered the central Northern states and were al- 
ready pushing into the territory west of the Missis- 
sippi River. Bancroft states that in 1834 the de- 
scendants of New England were one third the white 
population of the United States. That the 4,000 
families (21,200 persons) who migrated from Eng- 
land to New England between 1620 and 1635 had in 
200 years an average of 1,000 descendants for each 
family or a total of 4,000,000 persons. The new immi- 
gration from Ireland and the continent of Europe, 
which began with the Irish famine of 1848 and the 
checking of the European revolutions of the same 
year, flowed into the Northern States. The immigrant 
avoided slave territory. This immigration brought 
with it the Catholic Church and many race divisions, 
but it was of great economic value. The meteoric rise 
and fall of the "Know-Nothing Movement," which 
was opposed to Irishmen and Catholics, illustrate 
these conflicts. 

Rhodes remarks (Vol. II, p. 51) : "The efforts of the 
Catholics (1854) to exclude the Bible from the pub- 



26 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

lie schools struck a chord which has not ceased to 
vibrate. The ignorant foreign vote had begun to have 
an important influence on elections and the result in 
large cities was anything but pleasant of honest, effi- 
cient government." The immigration between 1850 
and 1860 was greater than the preceding decade and 
was not again surpassed until the new immigration 
movement which began about 1870. The growth of 
the population was amazing but the interesting fact 
of great moment to our theme is that the city popula- 
tion of the North was growing more than twice as 
rapidly as the rural population. 

The high cost of living is said to have begun in 
1850 (Rhodes, Vol. Ill, p. 112); the concentration of 
wealth began in this decade and the growth of city 
slums (Rhodes, Vol. Ill, p. 64). 

During this decade the North was beginning to 
shake off the provincialism and isolation which it in- 
herited from colonial and revolutionary times. The 
individualism of "Yankeedom" and the crudeness in- 
cident to pioneer life were to a degree giving way to 
the cosmopolitan spirit. The great impetus to this 
change as already intimated was from the railroad 
and the telegraph. These and immigration from 
Europe coupled with the migration westward have 
given a fluid dynamic character to American life. 
Herbert Spencer in speaking of the influence of inter- 
communication brought about by the railroad and 
the telegraph says ("Sociology," Vol. I, p. 575) : 
"Within a generation the social organism has passed 
from a stage like that of a cold-blooded creature with 
feeble circulation and rudimentary nerves to a stage 
like that of a warm-blooded creature with efficient 
vascular system and a developed nervous apparatus. 
To this more than any other cause are due the great 
changes in habits, beliefs, and sentiments characteriz- 
ing our generation." 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 27 

The industrial North with its large cities was to 
give to the world the modern Young Men's Christian 
Association. The new type of life was over-stimulat- 
ing to young men. Their natural instability of temper 
was accentuated by the growth of the city and the 
lure of the Great West. Rev. C. M. Butler of Cin- 
cinnati at the Association Convention held in that city 
in 1855 said (Cincinnati Convention Report, 1855, p. 
33), "The times have crowded into our youth the 
combined characteristics of the boy and the man and 
have subjected them to the dangers which belong to 
both." Young men in politics, in industry, and in 
social life held a position of leadership never occupied 
by them before. They illustrate Kipling's "Feet of 
the Young Men": 

" They must go, go, go away from here ! 
On the other side the World they're overdue. 
'Send your road is clear before you when the old Spring- 
fret comes o'er you 
And the Red Gods call for you !' " 

The decade of 1850 to 1860 in the United States 
was one of the greatest in world history and it is small 
wonder that young men felt its stimulus, that they 
thronged its rising cities, manned the growing indus- 
tries, and put the same enthusiasm and aggressive 
spirit into the religious organization which they 
espoused. 

The relation between national economic prosperity 
and organized religious or educational progress is 
more intimate than is generally supposed. It is true 
that the great revival of 1857 and 1858 followed al- 
most as swiftly as the thunder-clap follows the light- 
ning upon the heels of the financial panic of October, 
1857, but it is also true that the financial depression 
of that period sapped the organic life of many Asso- 
ciations. Membership in many of the Associations fell 



28 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

off. This condition also affected other voluntary or- 
ganizations. Many library associations formally con- 
sidered the expediency of disbanding. The Young 
Men's Christian Association experienced a similar de- 
pression later, following the financial crises of 1873 
and 1893. In 1859 the deficit of the New York City 
Association was wiped out through the efforts of Ben- 
jamin F. Manierre but reappeared to the amount of 
$1,000 in 1860. The New York Association report for 
that year states : "The Association is still alive. We 
do not intend to rehearse all the difficulties and 
troubles which have attended its life. Like many 
benevolent associations at the present time we are 
somewhat in debt, our expenses having considerably 
exceeded our receipts, and owing to the peculiar state 
of the times we have not been able to carry out a plan 
which we hoped would relieve us from further anxiety 
in financial matters." The report following the out- 
break of the war states that they were burdened 
"with a debt of nearly $2,400 which had been incurred 
by previous boards of directors and suffered to ac- 
cumulate until its magnitude had become appalling 
and had seriously paralyzed not only all efforts to re- 
duce the liability but all active interest in the Asso- 
ciation itself." 



Note : The smallness of the financial affairs of the 
Associations of these early days is seen from the 
budgets reported at the Cincinnati Convention of 
1855 (Cincinnati Convention Report, 1855, p. 100). 
"The last report of a few societies shows the annual 
receipts as follows: Buffalo, $850; Rochester, $720; 
Philadelphia, $1,089; St. Louis, $1,114; Baltimore, 
$1,475; Washington, $1,500; Montreal, £302; San 
Francisco, $2,045; Brooklyn, $2,135; New York, 
$3,621; Boston, $4,097. 



THE AMERICAN CONFEDERA TION 29 

Sec. 29. — Problems of the Confederation 

Having discussed the relation of the Association to 
slavery, the great political and moral issue of the pre- 
war period, and having examined the economic and 
social environment in which the infant organization 
found itself we must now turn our attention to the 
development of the organization itself. 

The main problems of this period were : First, the 
establishment of the Confederation with its Central 
Committee and conventions. 

Second, the discovery of the true aim and sphere of 
the Association movement. 

Third, the definition of the relation of the Associa- 
tion to the Church. 

Fourth, the proper basis of active membership for 
the control of the local Association. 



CHAPTER II 

THE LEADERS WHO MOULDED THE 

THOUGHT AND LIFE OF THE 

CONFEDERATION 

Before setting forth the attempt to solve these per- 
plexing problems in statesmanship, we will devote 
our attention to some interesting personalities— the 
dramatis persona of the movement. There were a 
number of stalwart young men typical of American 
life before the Civil War who determined the policies 
and laid the foundations of the Association. Scarcely 
one of them was over thirty years of age. They were 
earnest, practical men, free from cant, who accepted 
the traditional religious teaching of their day, but 
were remarkably progressive in adopting new 
methods of work. 

Sec. 30. — William Chauncy Langdon 

The leading figure of this period was unquestion- 
ably William Chauncy Langdon of Washington, who 
had been instrumental in founding the Washington 
Association and who was the chief promoter of the 
Buffalo Convention which created the Confederation. 

How can the career of so remarkable a young man 
as William Chauncy Langdon be presented in the 
brief space at our disposal? Its idealism, its enter- 
prise, its intrepid courage, its vicissitudes, its teeming 
opportunities, its myriad contacts with all classes of 
society, its world outlook, were possible only to an 
American youth who came to young manhood in the 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 31 

great transitional decade from 1850 to 1860. Langdon 
embodied the spirit of his times as completely as he 
did it unconsciously. He might have been a great 
scientist. He might have been a great lawyer. He 
certainly abandoned unusual business opportunities. 
Many young men decide to enter the ministry before 
they know whether they can achieve business success 
or not. Langdon at twenty-five relinquished a busi- 
ness which he himself had built up to yield $10,000 a 
year — a large prospect in 1856. 

Langdon came to Washington in 1851 in a period 
of transition. He writes ("Story of My Early Life," 
p. 71) : "The period at which the course of my life had 
thus brought me to Washington was, in some re- 
spects, one of the most remarkable in our history. It 
was a great transition epoch which assembled, in the 
political arena, the most brilliant gathering of public 
men which Washington has, perhaps, ever seen. It 
was the last great crisis of the older issues. It was 
the dawn of those which were now to come. It was 
that in which the Whig party only lingered on the 
theater of action with its great leaders, Clay_ and 
Webster; in which the old Democratic party was re- 
organizing itself for new questions ; in which the Re- 
publican party first appeared in the Senate in the per- 
sons of Seward and Chase and Sumner. Calhoun had, 
indeed, passed away the year before; but, with those 
already named, Badger and Soule, Berrian and Sam 
Houston, King and Jefferson Davis, were there from 
the South; Cass and Benton, Crittenden and Doug- 
las, from the West, with many others scarcely second 
even to them. 

"To occupy a government office — however modest 
such a position might be — at such a time, to be living 
in the public life of such a period, to come into per- 
sonal relations with some of these men, would have 
been a privilege at any age ; to be entering upon my 



32 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

early manhood in such a time and place and under 
such circumstances, was a rare climax of an excep- 
tional education." 

Langdon came of an important New England 
family. Yet he grew up in New Orleans. Before he 
was sixteen years of age he had lived in Washington, 
in several Southern cities, in a college community, on 
a Southern plantation, in several New England cities, 
and in Iowa and Illinois. He was highly connected 
and yet the loss by his father of the entire family re- 
sources by the defalcation of a trusted clerk reduced 
the family at one period to the most straitened cir- 
cumstances, and the heroic struggle of Langdon to 
secure a college education because he was too proud 
to make an explanation to his well-to-do New Eng- 
land relatives is a touching romance. 

Langdon was born on the outskirts of Burlington, 
Vermont, on the shores of Lake Champlain. Be- 
cause of the precarious health of his mother his father 
decided to take his young wife and child first to 
Washington and later to Louisiana. A tender epi- 
sode is the letter of Langdon's mother written for 
her boy then less than a year old who she at that time 
expected would soon be without her loving care. 
("The Story of My Early Life," pp. 6-7, Langdon.) 

"March 11, 1832. All is purity and innocence about 
you, my darling baby, and my heart is so full of love 
to you and delight in you now and hope for you in 
the future, that words are weak in the attempt to 
express what I feel. 

"You have been lent me by our kind heavenly Fa- 
ther and I ask Him to assist me in the care of you. I 
desire first of all things, to teach you to give your in- 
fant heart to Him; to have a childlike love and con- 
fidence toward Him and to remember that whatever 
may give you pleasure comes from His goodness and 
love for you. Would that your little heart could 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 33 

grow into manhood, unstained as it is now, and need 
not the severe discipline of this world's trials, to 
purify it for heaven. 

"If it please God to take away your mother before 
you — even before you learn to know her love — re- 
member, my dear, dear boy, you had in her a friend 
who would have borne anything to save you from 
suffering, and who would only have been happy if 
she saw you in the way of goodness. Such happiness 
as I ask of heaven for you, my darling little one, you 
will never find, but in the path of goodness and use- 
fulness. 

"When I think I may leave you in this world of 
temptation, I tremble : then I look at the sinless ex- 
pression of your little face and feel sure you will be 
guarded from evil. To the tender care of an Al- 
mighty Guardian your fond mother commends you." 

In 1836, when Langdon was five years old, the 
family moved to Louisiana. It was while they were 
in this state that the resources of the family were lost 
through a trusted clerk who was sent with a stock of 
goods to the new republic of Texas, and the struggle 
with adverse circumstances began. It was also a little 
later that Langdon's father served as a colonel in the 
Mexican War. During his boyhood Langdon was 
attacked by both yellow fever and cholera. His most 
remarkable experience resulted from his decision at 
fifteen, true to New England tradition, to seek a col- 
lege education. 

He determined to earn the money needed. He 
says, "The thought occurred to me to prepare a game 
of cards illustrative of English history." This he did. 
He undertook to both publish and sell these himself, 
and later added a similar game illustrative of Ameri- 
can history. He began first at Mobile and then at New 
Orleans. In the printing office where he was setting 
up the type one of the printers remarked, "If you 



34 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

would go to New York or Boston and publish these in 
the best style of the trade you would very likely make 
enough to enable you to go to college." Langdon, 
though only fifteen, persuaded his father to let him 
undertake this venture. In Mobile and New Orleans 
he cleared $95 and started with his mother to visit 
relatives in Iowa and Illinois. On the steamer and 
all along the route he took orders for his game "at 
$1.50 a pack, most people paying him in advance." 
He established an agency at St. Louis and leaving his 
relatives at Galena, 111., set out alone by stage for 
Chicago. He took orders on the lake steamers and 
at hotels and at a number of places established agen- 
cies, reaching Boston in the summer of 1846. He 
says ("Early Story of My Life," p. 25), "It is remark- 
able that though traveling much of this time entirely 
alone, though it might have been supposed that I had 
money with me, not a person, as far as I knew, made 
any attempt either to cheat me or beguile me in any 
way out of it and not one in any way to do me any 
moral wrong." 

In Boston young Langdon was received into the 
home of his uncle, George Ticknor, an eminent liter- 
ary man and publisher, who had been Longfellow's 
predecessor in the chair of literature at Harvard. 
Another of Langdon's uncles was governor of Ver- 
mont and his uncle, B. R. Curtis, became associate 
justice on the supreme bench at Washington. Dur- 
ing the few months he was at Boston perfecting his 
game and securing its publication he had remarkable 
opportunities at his Uncle Ticknor's home. He says 
("Early Story of My Life," p. 26) : "Here during the 
three months of my stay in Boston I saw and was 
brought into contact with very many persons whom 
it was then a privilege to meet and whom it has since 
been a great pleasure to remember. My uncle's li- 
brary was a gathering place for a large number of 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 35 

the most highly cultured and most noted people of 
the time and place. Not only my Uncle Curtis came 
and Mr. Savage, but Webster, Prescott, Longfellow, 
Everett, Abbott Lawrence, the Appletons, and Agas- 
siz (then lately come to America), and many others. 
Some or other of these were often at dinner and on 
almost every evening when the Ticknors were not 
themselves out . . . some of these with great kindness 
invited me to come and see them, Mr. Abbott Law- 
rence, Mr. Prescott, and Mr. Longfellow particu- 
larly." 

All of these friends and many others subscribed for 
young Langdon's game. His Uncle Ticknor wrote 
of him at this time ("The Story of My Early Life," 
p. 27) : "He is a clear-headed, active boy, better able 
to manage his own affairs than most men ten years 
older. . . . He knows how to adapt his means to his 
end with great skill." His uncle then spoke of Lang- 
don's "sweetness of disposition" and "the practi- 
cal efficiency of his character." He also expressed 
anxiety lest success and notoriety should make him 
conceited and superficial. On August 26 Langdon 
attended the Commencement exercises at Harvard 
University. 

Having completed the publication of his games 
Langdon started for the South, selling games himself 
and establishing agencies in New York City and else- 
where. He had an especially successful experience in 
Washington, where his family had many friends, one 
of whom presented him to President Polk, who sub- 
scribed for Langdon's game, as did also the Vice- 
President and each member of the Cabinet. This was 
true of a whole list of noted men, including Webster 
and Calhoun. Langdon now journeyed South taking 
orders in various cities, and reached New Orleans in 
April, 1847, before his sixteenth birthday, having ex- 
pended on this enterprise $1,200, all of which had 



36 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

been covered by the receipts. It is true that he found 
he could not reap an adequate return from his game 
without persistently promoting it, but a lad with such 
enterprise was sure to find a way through college. 
His New England relatives proposed to provide for 
Langdon a preparation for college at an academy in 
Vermont. This plan was accepted and while Lang- 
don ranked high in his studies, for some reason he 
did not fit in well and upon completing his course, 
though without receiving a diploma, he determined 
to return South. Later he entered as a freshman at 
Transylvania University in Kentucky, and graduated 
in three years. At the age of twenty he was made as- 
sistant professor in science and astronomy at Shelby 
College. Of his college days Langdon says : "I was 
buoyant and full of life. I rose early and gave from 
ten to twelve hours daily to study and recitation." 
Langdon became a lecturer on astronomy and before 
he was twenty-one was elected a member of the 
National Institute for the Promotion of Science. 

Langdon received an appointment as assistant ex- 
aminer at the patent office in Washington, which he 
accepted in May, 1851. From this position he was 
advanced four years later to be chief examiner, when 
he was but twenty-four years of age. One year later 
he resigned and opened an office as a patent expert, 
one concern alone retaining him for part of his time at 
$5,000 a year. Langdon developed a bold plan for 
an international patent business which was of much 
promise. 

During these years from different directions im- 
portant religious influences had affected Langdon. 
His father was an Episcopalian, his mother a devout 
Unitarian through the ministrations of Doctor Chan- 
ning of Boston. Langdon says of his mother while 
she was a resident of Hanover, "she was surrounded 
by the influences and associations of the straitest 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 37 

New England Congregationalism, by which she was 
subjected to virtual persecution to bring her more 
liberal and loving views of God and of the Christian 
life into closer conformity with a severer type of 
theology." 

Langdon, however, became attached to the Epis- 
copal Church. He desired to be confirmed at ten 
years of age but the bishop was unwilling to receive 
him until he was twelve years old. He was a mem- 
ber of a Bible class in New Orleans, which influenced 
him greatly, and during his trip for selling his game 
of cards he became acquainted at Hartford with an 
Episcopal clergyman who urged him to prepare for 
the ministry and who offered to provide for his entire 
education. This offer Langdon courteously declined, 
but it was in a measure due to the later influence of 
this same clergyman that Langdon decided to enter 
the ministry. 

In Washington he identified himself at once with 
Trinity Episcopal Church, of which Dr. Clement M. 
Butler was then the rector. Here Langdon became 
an active worker. He taught a Bible class of young 
men, four of whom entered the ministry. He also 
met Thomas Duncan, a government clerk in the 
treasury department, who upon reading an account in 
a British paper of the London Young Men's Christian 
Association proposed such an Association for Wash- 
ington. William Rhees of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion and Zalmon Richards united in a movement to 
establish the Washington Association in 1852. Of 
this society Langdon became the first corresponding 
secretary. 

Service in the Young Men's Christian Association 
deepened Langdon's religious interest. Upon re- 
turning from the first convention he joined with 
Rhees in establishing a mission Sunday school. Writ- 
ing of this he says, "On Sunday, October 1st, 1854, 



38 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

I took a leading part in starting an enterprise which 
eventually became in one sense a bridge over which 
I entered into the practical work of the ministry." 
("The Story of My Early Life," p. 98.) 

In starting this mission Sunday school Lang- 
don had the help of nine other young men. They 
gathered over a hundred children. This mission later 
developed into a branch of Trinity Church. The per- 
suasions of Doctor Butler and later of the young 
woman who became his wife were the final influences 
which led Langdon to abandon business, give up his 
lingering desire to become a scientist and devote him- 
self to the ministry. He began his theological studies 
while still in the patent business in 1856. 

Early in 1857 he went abroad for rest, study, and 
travel. It was on this journey he visited many Euro- 
pean Associations. He was ordained in the spring of 
1858 and became assistant rector of St. Andrew's 
Church, Philadelphia. Langdon had become deeply 
interested in Protestant work in Italy and in the 
unity of Christendom. His visits to Italy awakened 
in him the hope that the Episcopal churches of Eng- 
land and America might through the interest of the 
"Old Catholic Party" be able to reunite the Protes- 
tant and Roman Catholic churches. He went abroad 
in 1859 and remained almost continuously until 1875. 

For many years Langdon devoted himself to 
church unity. He founded Episcopal churches at 
Rome and Geneva, and was present at the "Old 
Catholic Congress" at Cologne in 1872. Shortly 
afterwards he returned to America much broken in 
health. Langdon served a number of churches for 
short periods, but eventually was obliged to retire. 
He wrote a number of treatises on the Catholic re- 
form movement. His last days were spent at Provi- 
dence, R. I., where he died when sixty-four years of 
age, in 1895. 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 39 

In 1887 he wrote a carefully prepared account of 
his efforts in founding the international alliance under 
the title of "The Early Story of the Confederation 
of the Young Men's Christian Association." This 
was written as a lecture at the request of J. T. Bowne, 
the recently appointed head of the secretarial course 
of the training school at Springfield, Mass. Langdon 
gave this lecture to the first senior class at the school. 
It was received with deep interest and, owing to the 
large amount of original material contained in it, was 
published in the Year Book of 1888 by the Interna- 
tional Committee. 

Langdon later presented the Historical Library 
with his collection of books, papers, manuscripts, and 
letters of the pre-war decade of Association history. 

An entirely new generation of leaders had arisen 
in the Association during the twenty years Langdon 
was abroad and he never reestablished relationships 
in any active way upon his return to America. He 
addressed the Employed Officers' Conference of 
North America at their meeting in Providence. 
Shortly before his death he was present at the Inter- 
national Convention of 1895 at Springfield and was 
introduced to the delegates at the opening session. 

Langdon in many respects surpassed the men who 
were active in Association work in his day. In 
scholarly attainments, in intellectual gifts, in social 
and family connections, in travel and experience, he 
was easily the leader. His exact training in science 
and his careful practice as a writer in the patent office 
developed gifts of analysis of no mean order. 

He had a faculty of getting at the bottom of a prob- 
lem, of pursuing it to the smallest detail and not leav- 
ing it until he was confident he had found the right 
solution. 

In later years he thus describes himself at the time 
he founded the Central Committee ("The Story of 



40 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

My Early Life," p. 62) : "I had inherited from my 
mother and from her family a sensitive organization, 
clear perceptions, and a scholarly temperament, a 
natural capacity both for acquiring and for imparting 
knowledge — and from my father, considerable force, 
persistency, tenacity, and pride of character. . . . My 
mother had been the one chief and most intimate 
companion and confidante of my childhood and 
youth. . . . M}^ mother's religious influence had ever 
been both sincere and practical. . . . My chief talent 
was for organization and administration; my power 
was in what has been termed 'a constructive imagina- 
tion' and in a faculty for marshalling all the informa- 
tion of which I was possessed in its relations to the 
matter in hand and for such concentrated application 
of my mind to that one thing that for the time being 
everything else ceased to exist for me." 

It is one of the tragedies of life to find a man with 
Langdon's fine idealism surrendering glowing ma- 
terial prospects to devote his splendid enthusiasm to 
the baffling task of reuniting the divided branches of 
Christendom. His services in federating the scat- 
tered Young Men's Christian Associations of North 
America in the early fifties may prove to have accom- 
plished more for promoting Christian union than 
all the direct endeavors of his later life. The impor- 
tance of this has been vaguely recognized by Associa- 
tion officers and not at all by other religious leaders. 
The sketch of Langdon in Appleton's "Encyclopedia 
of American Biography" describes his work in Italy 
and his writings, but in no way alludes to the most 
important service of his life, the federating of the 
American Young Men's Christian Associations, the 
shaping of their international policy by his dominant 
personality, and the influence this has had in promot- 
ing Christian unity. There can be little doubt that it 
was Langdon's contact with the Association and his 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 41 

enthusiasm for interdenominational endeavor that 
directed his life effort toward the great ideal of 
reuniting Christendom. 

Langdon was temperate in his views regarding 
slavery. No other young man in the Association of 
that day had had so extensive an acquaintance with 
the national life of our country both North and 
South or was so well qualified to pilot an infant in- 
ternational organization. He knew the New Eng- 
land point of view. His mother was a Unitarian and 
a disciple of Channing. He had studied in a Vermont 
academy and had lived in Boston. He had visited for 
months in the free West. He spent most of his boy- 
hood in New Orleans and Mobile. He knew the 
Southern attitude toward slavery. At one time his 
father owned a slave and Langdon was cared for 
when he was a child in Washington by a "black 
mammy." Later he tried to help one of their negro 
women servants when the young colored man she 
was to marry was sold and about to be sent to a dis- 
tant state. He was a college mate of Vice-President 
Breckenridge, of Kentucky. Just after Langdon's 
ordination, the Vice-President, at the opening of 
Congress, invited him to conduct the religious exer- 
cises in the Senate and reminded him of their college 
experiences. 

When "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was written it ap- 
peared as a serial in the National Era. Langdon, with 
Rhees and others, prevented the exclusion of this 
paper from the Washington Association reading 
room. The New York Association suffered seriously 
for lack of similar wise leadership. Langdon be- 
lieved that the institution of slavery could not be 
overthrown by any action of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association and that Christian young men should 
not allow their difference of opinion on even so vital 
a matter as this to prevent their fellowship, their 



42 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

working together in the same organization, or their 
treating each other as brethren. 

The chief leaders of the period were located in 
Washington, Cincinnati, Buffalo, and Richmond, and 
at its close in Philadelphia. Important contributions 
were also made by individuals from New York, 
Cleveland, and New Orleans. 

The most influential religious movement of the 
period was the revival of 1857, which was fostered 
by the New York Association, but in the main the 
leadership of the Association movement was as stated 
above. 

It will be noted that the cities named were each in 
turn the seat of the Central Committee and so for the 
time being the capital of the Association Confedera- 
tion. These men who led the movement all at vari- 
ous times served on the Central Committee and were 
frequent delegates at the International conventions. 
Service on the committee and attendance at these 
annual gatherings provided the training school which 
developed these leaders. 

Sec. 31. — Zalmon Richards 

Associated with Mr. Langdon at Washington were 
William J. Rhees and Zalmon Richards. 

Richards was an active member of the Baptist 
Church and one of the founders of the Washington 
Association. He became its second president and 
was interested in Langdon's proposal of a confedera- 
tion of all the American Associations. 

As president of the Washington Association in his 
annual report (First Washington Report, p. 7) he 
said, "Voluntary Associations do not owe their effi- 
ciency so much to their constitutions and by-laws as 
to the zeal and faithfulness of their members in carry- 
ing out the laws they have." Richards, however, 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 43 

proved a strict constructionist regarding the Articles 
of Confederation. He loyally supported Langdon 
and Samuel Lowry in their attempts to establish a 
Central Committee without authority and strictly ad- 
visory in character. He also took the practical posi- 
tion that the Association should keep itself free from 
the discussion of slavery. 

Richards was a delegate to the first convention at 
Buffalo, where he took an active part. He was a mem- 
ber of the credential committee and was chairman of 
the business committee. It was to the business com- 
mittee that the anti-slavery resolution was referred 
which would have disrupted the convention. His 
most important service at Buffalo was the presenting 
of the report embodying the Articles of Confedera- 
tion, by the adoption of which international super- 
vision was assured. 

Richards became a member of the first Central 
Committee (Buffalo Convention Report, 1854, p. 40). 
While Langdon was absent in Europe Richards was 
one of the few members of the "old guard" present 
at the Richmond Convention of 1857. At this con- 
vention he served on three committees ; he was chair- 
man of the nominating committee which organized 
the convention, a member of the business committee 
which carried out the program, and also of the com- 
mittee on the Central Committee's report which 
recommended the policies for the coming year. 

At Troy, 1859, at the critical convention of the 
Confederation, Richards was again a delegate. An 
essay by Lowry on the purpose of the Confederation 
was read in his absence by Richards. Langdon stood 
alone for the proposition that the Church and not the 
Association was the proper agency for the general 
propagation of the gospel to the whole world. Rich- 
ards did not support Langdon but he did oppose 
allowing the Central Committee the power of passing 



44 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

on the admission of local Associations to the Con- 
federation. He said (Troy Convention Report, 1859, 
p. 43), "We ought especially to guard against giving 
any more power to the Central Committee of the 
convention/' He also said he would "fight tooth and 
nail" any resolution giving the committee power to 
reject a local Association. In this he was defeated 
on the ground that organizations have the right of 
deciding who shall participate as members. 



Sec. 32. — William J. Rhees 

The leading progressive among the little group of 
Association leaders was William J. Rhees, one of the 
founders of the Washington Association, to which 
he gave much time voluntarily as librarian. 

Rhees was one year younger than Langdon. He 
received his M. A. degree when twenty-two years of 
age and became chief clerk with the Smithsonian In- 
stitution. He spent his life in Washington and was 
one of the inner coterie of gentlemen in the capital 
city who devoted themselves to the promotion of sci- 
ence. 

Rhees was present as a delegate at the Buffalo 
Convention and he attended all of the conventions of 
the Confederation period except the final one at New 
Orleans. This was true of no other leader. When 
Langdon felt that his efforts to establish the Con- 
federation had aroused so much opposition that it 
would be for the interest of the Central Committee to 
withdraw his name from membership even though 
the headquarters were transferred to Cincinnati, 
Rhees was appointed in his place. Rhees served on 
the Central Committee longer than any other Asso- 
ciation leader of this period. He was a member dur- 
ing the administration of the Washington committee. 
Each successive convention until the year 1866 ap- 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 45 

pointed him as the district member for Washington. 
To no man of the Confederation except Langdon is 
the early Association movement under more obliga- 
tion. Rhees was open-minded, more liberal in his 
ideas than most of his associates, and he stood for a 
more progressive policy. 

In his report as librarian of the Washington Asso- 
ciation (First Washington Report, 1854, p. 66) he said, 
"In the selection or reception of books, the library 
committee have always thought it proper to reject 
nothing which was of high moral character and liter- 
ary merit, whatever might be the religious or political 
views advocated." "Our knowledge of each form of 
belief should be gained from those works which ad- 
vocate them and not from opponents." 

At the Buffalo Convention he opposed the resolu- 
tion recommended to all the Associations "to admit 
into their libraries no work which is unfriendly to 
evangelical Christian faith." At the Buffalo Conven- 
tion Rhees was chosen secretary. He rendered the 
same service at Montreal, getting out the convention 
report. At Buffalo he opposed the proposition of the 
Boston delegate that Associations be entitled to vote 
at conventions in proportion to their membership, for 
fear this would give the large organization undue 
control. 

At the first convention his chief services were in 
connection with the discussion of the work of the 
Association and the basis of membership. He 
wrongly favored the broad program for the work of 
the Association rather than for young men only. 
Rhees was chairman of the committee to whom was 
referred the evangelical basis for membership. He 
drafted the statement (First Buffalo Report, 1854, 
p. 35) : "We, therefore, acknowledge no creed but 
the Bible and we are ready to welcome all young men 
whether members of evangelical churches, or of no 



46 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

church, to our Associations, . . . preserving, how- 
ever, by such provisions as each Association shall 
deem necessary the control in the hands of those 
who are active members of evangelical churches. 
Your committee think that as few restrictions and 
distinctions as possible should be adopted by our As- 
sociations which would tend to keep from a cordial 
cooperation in our great moral enterprise any body 
of professing Christians, however much they may 
differ from a majority of us in faith." 

Rhees early conceived the idea that active mem- 
bership should be limited to members who render a 
service. At the second convention at Cincinnati he 
advocated the plan of the Washington Association — 
that all new members be elected as associate mem- 
bers and that only those rendering a service be later 
chosen as active members, office holding and voting 
on the constitution being the only function limited 
to members of evangelical churches. The Montreal 
Convention (1856) spent three sessions on the mem- 
bership issue, over two of which Rhees pfesided. No 
further decision was made at that time. At the 
Charleston Convention (1858) a session was devoted 
to Rhees' idea that active membership should be 
limited to members "actually active/' The conven- 
tion voted "that it was not prepared to give an affirm- 
ative response," but stated that it was a matter 
worthy of careful consideration by local Associations. 
Rhees was an unwearied advocate of local option on 
the question of a test for active membership — a con- 
viction later shared by Cephas Brainerd. 

Rhees at Cincinnati (1855) proposed the establish- 
ment of the Quarterly Reporter, which became the 
chief means of promotion of the Association cause in 
the early days. While Langdon was abroad as a dele- 
gate to the European Associations, Rhees served as 
foreign secretary of the Central Committee. 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 47 

At the Montreal Convention he showed his progres- 
sive spirit far in advance of the times by proposing 
(Montreal Convention Report, 1856, p. 15) a resolu- 
tion: "Whether any means can be provided by Young 
Men's Christian Associations for the physical devel- 
opment and promotion of the health of their members 
by gymnasiums, baths, etc.," and also "the practical 
influence of theaters and similar places of amuse- 
ment." These resolutions were referred to special 
committees and were the first discussions of these 
subjects which were destined to influence most pro- 
foundly not only the work of the Association but its 
whole temper and spirit. The introduction of the 
physical department as a means of developing charac- 
ter is the greatest contribution to religious thinking 
the Association has made, and the idea that whole- 
some amusement should be used to make religion at- 
tractive to young men led the Associations to take 
the point of view of the young man and begin at his 
dominant interest rather than seek to admonish or 
exhort him. The resolution on physical education 
was laid on the table, but a fairly progressive reso- 
lution on amusements was adopted (Montreal Con- 
vention Report, 1856, pp. 65-67), though a later con- 
vention at the same city in 1867 reversed this action. 

One plan of the Central Committee assigned to 
Rhees failed. The committee undertook under his 
leadership to establish a lecture bureau for the lecture 
courses throughout the country, but while some emi- 
nent lecturers like John B. Gough were introduced 
to Associations, the plan broke down. Rhees was 
instrumental in raising the debt incurred by the first 
Central Committee which had been unpaid for two 
years. He showed a keen interest in the financial 
affairs of the Central Committee. At the Richmond 
Convention in 1857 as chairman of the committee on 
the Confederation he recommended (Richmond Con- 



48 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

vention Report, 1857, p. 16) : "That we endeavor to 
obtain one thousand subscriptions for the Reporter, 
as the amount thus obtained will defray all the ex- 
penses of publication and provide a sufficient sum for 
the Central Committee to increase their means of 
usefulness and the general good. This plan is be- 
lieved to be the best for raising the fund required to 
carry on the operations of the Central Committee." 

At the Charleston Convention Rhees made a most 
important proposition that the Central Committee 
add to its service the visitation of the Association by 
members of the committee. These visits were to in- 
clude unorganized towns with a view to establishing 
new Associations. This plan was approved by suc- 
ceeding conventions and became a permanent policy 
which has expanded into the employment of a large 
body of traveling secretaries. 

Rhees never seems to Have accepted Langdoii's be- 
lief that the Association should confine its efforts to 
work for young men. In this opinion he followed the 
sentiment of most of the Association leaders and 
failed to see the real sphere of the Young Men's 
Christian Association. At the Charleston Conven- 
tion (1858) Rhees presided at the session on "The 
True Sphere of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion." Two sessions were devoted to discussing this 
issue and the Cincinnati resolution was reapproved. 
This to a degree satisfied both the advocates of a 
broad field and a specialized field. It favored the 
building up of "Christian character and Christian 
activity among young men." 

At the significant Troy Convention Rhees opposed 
Langdon on this issue. He held that the Association 
(Troy Convention Report, 1859, p. 58) should engage 
in evangelistic work and maintain mission Sunday 
schools for the masses. He quoted from the report 
of the Buffalo Convention to prove that Langdon was 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 49 

in error in claiming that general evangelistic effort 
by the Associations was "a novel doctrine." This 
position was in keeping with Rhees' last effort at an 
Association convention. After the Civil War was 
over, at the Philadelphia Convention in 1865 (Phila- 
delphia Convention Report, 1865, p. 46) he supported 
a resolution of one of his fellow delegates from Wash- 
ington proposing to establish an "American Protes- 
tant Association" and (p. 85) true to his early con- 
victions, advocated "Mission Sabbath Schools" on the 
floor of the convention. One of Rhees' important 
services was in collecting the records and publications 
of this period. His relation to the Central Commit- 
tee and the foreign Associations gave him an unusual 
opportunity. Some of these documents were de- 
stroyed by fire. This led him to gather new copies 
and these, with others he possessed, were given to the 
Library of Congress. Later, in 1890, he gave many 
early documents and publications to Bowne for the 
Historical Library. 

It will be seen that international supervision as 
embodied in the conventions and the Central Com- 
mittee owes a great debt to the early Association 
leaders at Washington. Langdon, Richards, and 
Rhees had the vision, the consecration, the intelli- 
gence, and the industry to inaugurate this work. The 
broad, statesmanlike leadership and keen intellectual 
insight of Langdon were equalled by the liberality and 
breadth of spirit of Rhees in his attitude toward theo- 
logical questions and his prophetic, progressive ad- 
vocacy of physical training and wholesome recrea- 
tion as features of the Association program. 

There is a distinct let-down in the intellectual 
quality of the Association leadership as it passed 
from the Washington group, although there is an 
intensifying of religious zeal. 



50 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

Sec. 33. — William H. Neff 

The Cincinnati group assumed management of the 
Central Committee at a critical time in 1856. The 
Confederation was by no means firmly established 
and it was proposed to shift headquarters to a new 
center. This was done at the Cincinnati Convention 
by the appointment on the Central Committee of five 
local members. Of this committee, H. Thane Miller 
became chairman and William H. Neff became the 
chief executive under the title of home secretary. 
This title was afterwards changed to corresponding 
secretary. 

Neff had been a delegate at the Buffalo Convention 
where, next to Langdon, he was the most influential 
leader. He prepared the first draft of the Articles 
of Confederation and served on the committee to 
which these articles were referred. Neff made the 
motion for their final adoption and advocated them 
in an earnest appeal. 

Neff was chairman of the local committee for en- 
tertaining the second convention at Cincinnati and 
called that gathering to order. The second Central 
Committee, during the year he was its corresponding 
secretary, did much to shape the character of the 
Confederation. In his report at Montreal Neff said 
(Montreal Convention Report, 1857, p. 49), "The 
Committee 'considered that the Associations had en- 
tered into this Confederation for their mutual encour- 
agement, cooperation, and more extended usefulness' 
without yielding up any portion of their own inde- 
pendence or without giving to the Confederation or 
its agents any power whatever to interfere in any re- 
spect with the local affairs of any Association." 

The committee extended its own organization by 
appointing district corresponding secretaries in all 
parts of the country. Seven new Associations united 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 51 

with the Confederation. The most important ad- 
vance was the establishment of the Quarterly Re- 
porter as the organ of the Association. The first issue 
of 500 copies appeared January 30, 1856. NefT bore 
the chief share in editing this quarterly, which was 
circulated among all the Associations both at home 
and abroad. He said, "The Committee considers the 
subject of a periodical by far the most important of 
those committed to them by the convention and 
spared no pains in making the necessary arrange- 
ments." 

NefT was made president of the third convention 
held at Montreal, in 1856. He did much to promote 
the international fellowship of that gathering and in 
his farewell remarks said, speaking of the fear of war 
between Great Britain and the United States (Mont- 
real Convention Report, 1856, p. 70), "By resolution 
we have set apart the first Tuesday in August as a 
day of humiliation and prayer and we would respect- 
fully invite you to unite with us on that day in im- 
ploring our heavenly Father to avert the calamity 
which seems to be gathering around and impending 
over us." 

NefT was reappointed to the Central Committee 
but was unable to serve. During the following year 
he visited a number of Associations in Europe. 



Sec. 34. — Samuel Lowry, Jr. 

Samuel Lowry, Jr., became NefT's successor as cor- 
responding secretary of the Central Committee. 
Lowry was a delegate at the first convention at Buf- 
falo where he reported for the Cincinnati Association 
and was a member of the business committee which 
considered the Articles of Confederation. He was 
also active in entertaining the second convention. 
Lowry did not attend the Montreal Convention, but 



52 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

as neither Neff nor H. Thane Miller was present at 
Richmond (1857) he bore the entire responsibility of 
representing the committee. 

At Richmond he presented the Central Commit- 
tee's annual report and served as chairman of the 
business committee. The annual report of the com- 
mittee stated "Resolutions requesting action upon 
'the observance of the Sabbath,' a 'report on Sabbath 
schools,' and 'communications on Sabbath schools,' 
were considered by the committee as beyond the 
sphere of their duties." 

A. G. Cummings, a corresponding delegate from 
Philadelphia, introduced a series of resolutions at 
this convention, proposing that the convention rec- 
ommend measures to enforce Sabbath observance 
and that the action of the Bible Society in issuing a 
new edition of the Bible be condemned because, the 
mover claimed, it contained alterations. Cummings 
also proposed the adoption of a constitution and by- 
laws for the Confederation. These matters were re- 
ferred one by one to the business committee of which 
Lowry was chairman and were stoutly opposed by 
him. All these propositions were rejected by the 
convention, but they consumed much valuable time. 
Lowry in the Quarterly Reporter (April, 1858, p. 30) 
further discussed the desirability of simplicity in the 
constitution of local Associations and urged the folly 
of adopting a hard and fast constitution for the Con- 
federation — a plan urged by abolition sympathizers. 

When the headquarters were transferred to Buf- 
falo Lowry was made district secretary of the com- 
mittee for the Ohio district. He was unable to attend 
the large convention at Troy in 1859, but at the re- 
quest of the Central Committee prepared an essay on 
"The System of the Confederation." Lowry pointed 
out that the isolated situation of the early societies 
and their need of information and help were the chief 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 53 

reasons for the establishment of the Confederation. 
He enumerated the difficulties encountered and 
stated that the Confederation was based on two prin- 
ciples : "first, that it shall not legislate for nor exercise 
authority over the local Associations; second, that 
the Associations of which it is composed in their re- 
lation to it and to one another shall be placed upon 
an equal and independent footing." He discussed 
the advisory function of the convention and re- 
marked: "The appointment of the Central Committee 
is given to it without reserve in order to assure to the 
Associations the control of that organ. It is the 
manifest design of the convention to sustain and fos- 
ter by its influence the individual Associations rather 
than to aggrandize the Confederation." 

In an article in the Young Men's Christian Journal 
(February, 1859, p. 30) Lowry warns against the dis- 
position to divert the Associations from work for 
young men into an organization for union prayer 
meetings and lay preaching. He says, "The novel and 
interesting nature of the labors referred to should not 
be allowed to obscure the peculiar claims of young 
men upon organizations especially designed for their 
benefit." It is obvious that Langdon would have 
had one supporter if Lowry had attended the Troy 
Convention and also that Lowry did not approve of 
the general evangelistic work which the Cincinnati 
Association was then promoting. In the Young 
Men's Christian Journal in September, 1859, follow- 
ing the Troy Convention, Lowry discussed the rela- 
tion of the Association to the Church. He advocated 
more clearly than most of his contemporaries that the 
field should be limited to young men. He was insist- 
ent that a special agency was needed and that it did 
not interfere with the prerogative of the Church any 
more than did the Sunday school or any other work 
carried on by loyal laymen. He asserts, "Generally 



54 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

those who have been most conspicuous in the Asso- 
ciation have been among the foremost in the labors 
of their respective churches." 

Lowry in 1859 visited the parent Association at 
London and the Associations at Dublin, Belfast, and 
Paris. 

Sec. 35. — H. Thane Miller 

No man of this decade was regarded with more 
affection or was destined to have so long a period of 
service in the Association as H. Thane Miller of Cin- 
cinnati, who began his contact with the convention in 
his home city in 1856 and continued it until his death 
forty years later in 1896. During the greater part of 
these years Miller was blind and yet with an abound- 
ing cheerfulness and apparently unhindered by his 
affliction he presided at both state and international 
conventions, addressed meetings, and served on com- 
mittees. He was most effective as a lay evangelist 
and as a solo singer of gospel songs. He brought a 
spiritual enthusiasm into the Association movement. 
He allied himself unreservedly with the cause and, 
while he led in the general evangelistic work of the 
days before the Civil War, he adapted himself with- 
out difficulty to the fourfold work for young men 
championed later by Brainerd and McBurney. 

During the fifties he advocated "the general prop- 
agation of the Gospel" for all classes, which was so 
earnestly opposed by Langdon. At his first conven- 
tion in 1856 at Cincinnati he appealed from President 
Langdon's decision that the Articles of Confedera- 
tion forbade the convention passing on the evangeli- 
cal test for active membership. 

Upon adjournment of the convention he was 
elected to fill a vacancy on the new Central Commit- 
tee located at Cincinnati. He became its chairman 
and served in this capacity for two years. He did 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 55 

not attend the conventions at Montreal and Rich- 
mond but he did attend the convention at Charleston 
following the revival of 1857 and 1858. At Charles- 
ton he served actively as chairman of the committee 
on the Confederation but his chief interest was in 
urging visitation by members of the Central Com- 
mittee. This he began personally upon returning 
home when he became secretary for the Ohio district 
(Quarterly Reporter, 1858, July, p. 75). A "Christian 
mass meeting" was called by the Cincinnati Associa- 
tion to hear reports of the Charleston Convention. 
This was attended by from two to three thousand 
people. Miller, then president of the Association, pre- 
sided. At this meeting it was decided to form a "uni- 
versal Christian union" to promote evangelistic meet- 
ings. Miller became president of this union. The 
eleventh annual report of the Cincinnati Association 
(1859) recounts experiences so typical of the influ- 
ence of the revival that they are here recorded 
(Young Men's Christian Journal, 1859, p. 37): 

"Like other Associations the past year the Cincin- 
nati Association has taken an active part in the great 
means made use of in this country to carry the gos- 
pel to the masses and the use of which affords the best 
evidence of good results claiming to arise from the 
extended revival of the past year. 

"The principal work of this society . . . has been 
that known all over the land as the 'Union Tabernacle 
Movement.' . . . The plan of preaching under can- 
vas was first proposed and attempted by the Phila- 
delphia Association who dedicated their first tent on 
the first day of May (1858)." 

The Cincinnati tent was largely devoted to "lay 
preaching." During the summer over one hundred 
services addressed by laymen were conducted. When 
cold weather arrived halls were rented and the meet- 
ings continued. 



56 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

The next step of the Cincinnati Association was 
to organize evangelistic teams or delegations to tour 
neighboring towns and cities and even whole states. 
Meetings were held at county seats and local teams 
organized to promote gospel meetings in all sections 
of the county. "In every place the meetings have 
been thronged and the labors of the brethren attended 
with great success. Dead professors have been 
awakened, young Christians encouraged, and a fresh 
zeal in the cause of Sabbath schools inspired." 

The Young Men's Christian Journal in December, 
1859, in referring to this work says, "In our judg- 
ment it proves the Cincinnati Association to be the 
best organization of the kind in the country." 

The revival and those promoting it had carried 
the Association cause so far away from the ideals 
advocated by Langdon and Neff" that an Association 
conducting state-wide evangelistic campaigns and 
"Union Tabernacle Meetings" for the masses was 
recognized by the official organ as the standard As- 
sociation of America. 



Sec. 36. — George H. Stuart 

George H. Stuart, a merchant of Philadelphia, was 
the most prominent business man in America identi- 
fied in the early days with the Young Men's Christian 
Association. He was twice invited into the National 
Cabinet but declined. He was active in religious 
work, became chairman of the Central Committee 
when its headquarters were established at Philadel- 
phia in 1860, and during the Civil War rendered the 
Association and the cause of the soldiers untold ser- 
vice as chairman of the "United States Christian 
Commission." . He was one of the eight American 
delegates at the Paris Conference of 1855. 

He was one of the founders of the Philadelphia 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 57 

Association in 1854, became its first president, and 
continued in that office during the entire pre-war 
period. Both in temperament and experience he 
came into sharp opposition to Langdon. With H. 
Thane Miller and many other laymen he developed a 
deep interest in evangelistic effort. The revival of 
1857-1858 found him ready to take a leading part and 
he brought the Philadelphia Association into it with 
enthusiasm. 

On March 18, 1858, as chairman of the noon prayer 
meeting at Jayne's Hall, Philadelphia, he sent a greet- 
ing by telegram to the Fulton Street noon meeting 
in New York. "To Mr. W. Wetmore, Fulton Street 
Meeting — Jayne's Hall — Daily Prayer Meeting is 
crowded, upwards of 3,000 present, with one heart 
and mind they glorify our Father in heaven for 
the mighty work he is doing in our city. . . . Grace, 
mercy, and peace be with you." ("Noon Prayer 
Meeting of the North Dutch Church,'" 1858, p. 75.) 

This meeting began in a small way in Philadelphia 
in a church in November, 1857. The February fol- 
lowing it was transferred to Jayne's Hall and imme- 
diately became largely attended. One of the attend- 
ants of the time described it as follows ("The Noon 
Prayer Meeting of the North Dutch Church," 1858, 
p. 273) : 

"The sight is now grand and solemn. The hall is 
immensely high. In the rear, elegantly ornamented 
boxes extend from the ceiling in a semi-circular form 
around the stage or platform; and on the stage, and 
filling the seats, aisles, and galleries, three thousand 
souls at once on one week-day after another, at its 
busiest hour, bow before God in prayer for the re- 
vival of His work. The men and women, ministers 
and people, of all denominations or of none, all are 
welcome — all gather. 

"There is no noise, no confusion. A layman con- 



58 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

ducts the meeting. Any suitable person may pray 
or speak to the audience for five minutes only. If he 
do not bring his prayer or remarks to a close in that 
time, a bell is touched and he gives way. One or two 
verses of the most spiritual hymns go up 'like the 
sound of many waters' ; requests for prayer for indi- 
viduals are then made, one layman or minister suc- 
ceeds another in perfect order and quiet, and after a 
space which seems a few minutes — so strange, so ab- 
sorbing, so interesting is the scene — the leader an- 
nounces that it is one o'clock, and punctual to the 
moment a minister pronounces the benediction, and 
the immense audience slowly, quietly, and in perfect 
order, pass from the hall, some minister remaining 
to converse in a small room of! the platform with any 
who may desire spiritual instruction. 

"No man there, no man, perhaps, living or dead, 
has ever seen anything like it. On the day of Pente- 
cost Peter preached; Luther preached; and Living- 
stone, Wesley, and Whitefield ! Great spiritual 
movements have been usually identified with some 
eloquent voice. But no name, except the Name that 
is above every name, is identified with this meeting. 
'Yes,' said a clergyman, on the following Sabbath, 
'think of the prayer meetings this last week at Jayne's 
Hall, literally and truly unprecedented and unparal- 
leled in the history of any city or any age ; wave after 
wave pouring in from the closet, from the family, from 
the church, from the union prayer meetings, until the 
great tidal or tenth wave rolled its mighty surge 
upon us, swallowing up for the time being all sepa- 
rate sects, creeds, denominations, in the one great, 
glorious, and only Church of the Holy Ghost.' ' 

While this revival largely promoted by the Asso- 
ciation was in progress, Langdon had returned from 
visiting the European Associations, had been or- 
dained to the Episcopal ministry and assumed his 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 59 

first post in Philadelphia. He was now foreign secre- 
tary of the Central Committee and sought to ally 
himself with the Philadelphia Association. He states 
("Early Story of the Confederation," p. 40) : 

"I had returned from Europe, for my part, with 
very clear conceptions of the Association as a body 
of Christian young men, whose errand was to young 
men; of their true sphere as that of Christian work 
to be done by young men for young men.* 

* There is no hint in these historic pages that the Association had 
discovered the boy. The young adult was well known to Langdon 
and his period. The ardent supposition of the Stuarts, the Thane 
Millers and of Eells, that the Association should not be limited to 
young men even, but should be a general evangelistic agency, gives 
no prophecy of its final purpose and direction. 

Were the early founders of the Association Movement mistaken 
in their psychology? 

Did they think that character was formed after a young man 
reaches his majority, or before? 

The history of the Movement shows that they concentrated their 
means upon providing Association buildings for adults. For long 
decades the minds of the founders of the Association were concen- 
trated upon the establishment and progress of the Association 
amongst men. 

In the operation of the early Associations the religious work was 
largely one of reformation. The central idea was to "snatch brands 
from the burning." Sunday meetings inside the Y buildings and 
outside were for the purposes of reformation. The appeals were 
of that evangelistic nature which deals with men who have "gone 
wrong." Much of it was of the nature of the present-day city 
mission work. The Association was largely made up of two ele- 
ments — a class of privileged men who had maintained their self- 
respect and the larger group of unassimilated men who were "going 
wrong." 

The psychology of all this was to the effect that the Association 
was a reform movement in personal character, that it was a rescue 
service in the community. Men did not stop to think seriously in 
those days, as far as the records show, of the infinite waste in human 
character of attempting a local and national program primarily upon 
the "reform" basis. 

The new psychology is nearer to the heart of God. It is nearer to 
His purposes for mankind. The Association of the future must 
concentrate its forces and its program upon formation of character, 
rather than the salvaging of derelicts. 

What does this mean if applied practically to the Association's 



60 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

"Of the Association at Philadelphia, George H. 
Stuart was at that time the president, the representa- 
tive man, and the leading spirit. Not one of our or- 
ganizations was ready to go further than this society 
in any and in every good work and with what were 
now my own clear conceptions of the special objects 
of the institution and my strong convictions of both 
the duty and the necessity of restricting ourselves to 
the definite sphere of a specific work. Nowhere could 
I have found myself more completely out of accord 
with the local Associations. In fact, I now, on the 
threshold of my own ministry, for the first time heard 
it freely claimed that our Associations were called 
to enter upon the whole work of preaching the gos- 

program and extension? It means that boys and men under twenty- 
one, rather than men who have passed their majority, must receive 
the bulk of the Association's attention. 

Why? In the present age the answer is simple and so clear that 
the man who "runs may read." A youth's time may be said to be 
divided into three almost equal parts — eight hours of schooling and 
study, or work, each day, eight hours of sleep and eight hours of 
undirected time. It is the latter one-third of a youth's time which 
the Association must be qualified to help direct, the one-third when 
the boy is not under his schoolmasters, neither is he under the 
discipline of the home. 

The average home is not equipped to absorb the recreation hours 
of youth; neither the parlor, the library, the dining room, the cellar 
nor the bedrooms are equipped for recreation purposes, and yet the 
youth craves recreation and must have it for his normal growth 
more than any other elements of desire in his day of twenty-four 
hours. The appeal that is made to him is not primarily one of 
reformation, but one of formation. He is in that exuberant, opti- 
mistic, forward-looking, impetuous period when all the habits and 
processes of life are going through the selective process. He is 
then the hero worshipper and the idealist. 

The early Associations, by and large, largely ignored the youth 
in all his period of struggle and concentrated their attention upon 
him after he had reached his majority and, for the most part, 
selected his occupation and was soon to prepare his own home. A 
tremendous amount of reformatory work was necessary because of 
the bad starts. If the start had been right, how much less heart- 
burning and also sometimes futile effort to change character which 
had become set. — R. E. L. 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 61 

pel and of evangelizing the world for which the 
Church and the ministry had proven unequal. 

"At a meeting of this Association, late in 1858, I 
endeavored to combat this tendency but found the 
whole society against me; my position being utterly 
condemned by everyone." 

Stuart, as one of the foremost Association leaders, 
went as a delegate to the Troy Convention of 1859. 
He was immediately chosen president, being nomi- 
nated by a committee of which Cephas Brainerd of 
New York was chairman. Stuart presided over the 
debates of this convention, which continued through 
five days. This convention was filled with the en- 
thusiasm of the great revival and centered its chief 
thought on the mission of the Young Men's Christian 
Association. 

This the Troy convention decided was to be evan- 
gelization of the masses. 

Stuart, for the American Sunday School Union, 
presented each delegate with a copy of "The Union 
Prayer Meeting Tune Book." The Philadelphia As- 
sociation also gave to each delegate a copy of a book 
on the revival entitled "Pentecost." 

It was into the hands of men like Miller of Cincin- 
nati and Stuart of Philadelphia that the leadership 
of the Association passed from men like Langdon, 
Rhees, Neff, and Lowry. Ever since its inception 
there have been in the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation these two types of leaders representing these 
two ideals for the organization. George Williams, 
Miller, Stuart, Moody, and men of their spirit have 
been evangelistic in temper, interested in immediate 
religious transformation, regarding the Association, 
the Church, and all religious effort as a means for 
creating religious interest. These men have given 
spiritual power to the movement, awakened enthusi- 



62 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

asm, and led men to become active workers. They 
were men who were strongly emotional. 

On the other hand, there have been the leaders 
who have seen the significance and relationships of 
the organization, the fundamental necessity for a per- 
manent work, and the supreme value of a program 
of religious education for the development of the 
whole man — Langdon, Brainerd, McBurney, Morse, 
and men of their insight have been the statesmen 
of the Association movement, who have directed its 
course, developed its program, and built it into the 
structure of modern life.* 

Sec. 37. — Howard Crosby 

No picture of the dramatis persona of the Confed- 
eration period would be complete without reference 
to Howard Crosby and Richard McCormick of New 
York City. In view of the conspicuous leadership of 
the New York Association since the outbreak of the 
Civil War, the reluctance of that Association to take 
any part in the national affairs of the organization 
at the time of the Confederation is the more notice- 
able. 

Howard Crosby was the man chiefly responsible 
for this attitude. His career shows him to have been 
a man of leadership and of vigorous intellectual life. 
He is perhaps the most widely known man of any of 
the active leaders of this period. Professor Crosby 
was twenty-six years of age when the New York 
Association was founded in 1852 and was at that time 
professor of Greek at New York University, his Alma 
Mater. 

* Shurtleff as the social mind of the movement had an important 
influence; Mott as the force for world-extension; Crackel as the 
continuous demonstrator of the necessity and practicability of work 
for boys, and Robinson as the national pioneer, added the Boy Age 
to what had previously been a young men's program.^R. E. L. 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 63 

In 1861 he entered the ministry. For twenty- 
eight years he was pastor of the Fourth Avenue 
Presbyterian Church of New York City and later 
chancellor of New York University. The Fourth 
Avenue Presbyterian Church was in the same city 
block with the first Association building erected in 
1869. Professor Crosby became one of the vice- 
presidents of the Association at its organization in 
1852. The following year he was chosen president 
and served in that office for three years during the 
period when Langdon and his associates were seek- 
ing to establish the Confederation. 

Professor Crosby was the chief opponent of this 
undertaking and succeeded in keeping the New York 
Association out of the Confederation.* It was due 
largely to Professor Crosby's strong advocacy that 
this Association centered on its local affairs. The 
New York Association became absorbed in work for 
young men by young men and because of its isola- 
tion from the Confederation and the extent of its own 
field was never led away into general evangelistic 
effort. This was in spite of the fact that the revival 
of 1857 and 1858 arose largely under the leadership 
of the New York society. 

In his first report (Second New York City Report, 
May, 1854), one month before the Buffalo Conven- 
tion, Professor Crosby said: "A proposition for a 

* There have continued to be prominent Association men who 
followed the example of Mr. Crosby and strenuously fought for the 
limitation of the prerogative of federation or, as it is known in 
modern days, "supervision." Several international conventions in 
the white heat of discussion revolved around this issue. The theory 
to this day is that supervision, as over the Young Men's Christian 
Associations, represents "overlook" only. We still lack a democratic 
system of representation, of apportionment of support, of authority 
and of control of that authority by the local communities. There 
are elements of strength in the lack of centralization, but it must 
be recognized also that there are elements of continuous weakness. — 
R. E. L. 



64 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

convention of delegates from all the Young Men's 
Christian Associations in the United States was 
lately made to this Association from a sister society 
with the main object of considering the propriety of 
establishing a central organization and a central or- 
gan. As such centralization seemed to militate with 
the necessarily local character of our field of effort . . . 
this proposition was declined by us as well as by simi- 
lar Associations of other cities." 

A year later, in his second report, Professor Crosby 
saw no reason for changing his opinion. He said, 
"We desire to avoid anything like national centrali- 
zation in a work so purely local as ours." He did, 
however, accept the Central Committee as a commit- 
tee of correspondence. 

His fear of disruption of a national organization 
over the slavery issue was an equally compelling mo- 
tive with Professor Crosby. This is seen in his cor- 
respondence with Langdon, whom he always treated 
with the utmost courtesy. 



Sec. 38. — Richard C. McCormick 

During this period Richard C. McCormick was the 
member of the New York Association most interested 
in the progress of the movement at large. McCor- 
mick became a distinguished man. He began busi- 
ness life as a broker in New York in 1856. One of 
his great services to work for young men was edit- 
ing, during the two years 1858-1859, one of the first 
monthly publications devoted to the affairs of young 
men. This was entitled the Young Meri s Magazine 
and had a considerable section in each issue devoted 
to the American and foreign Young Men's Christian 
Associations. This activity led McCormick into the 
editorial department of the New York Evening Post. 

During the Civil War McCormick was an active 



LEADERS OF THE CONFEDERATION 65 

war correspondent. Following the war he was drawn 
away from Association affairs by the acceptance 
of an appointment as governor of the territory 
of Arizona, where he resided for many years. He 
became active in national political life, at one time 
serving as assistant secretary of the treasury and later 
commissioner-general to the Paris Exposition. He 
was invited to accept the mission to Mexico but de- 
clined. McCormick also produced a number of im- 
portant volumes. 

In May, 1853, McCormick was elected correspond- 
ing secretary of the New York Association and was 
brought into contact with Langdon, who held the 
same office in the Washington Association. He did 
not share Professor Crosby's opposition to the estab- 
lishment of the Confederation. In 1854, having 
learned of McCormick's plan to visit Europe, Presi- 
dent Crosby appointed him as a delegate to the Asso- 
ciations abroad. He was the first American to make 
an extended tour of the European Associations, visit- 
ing many in the United Kingdom, France, Switzer- 
land, and Germany. 

Upon his return McCormick again became corre- 
sponding secretary of the New York Association, in 
which position he served until the outbreak of the 
Civil War. He and one other delegate were the first 
members from the New York Association to attend 
an international convention. McCormick sat as a 
corresponding delegate at the Montreal Convention 
in 1856. Here he reported the work of the New York 
Association and was invited by the convention to give 
an address. 

At the Troy Convention in 1859 McCormick, in 
spite of his friendship for Langdon, sided with those 
who wished the Association to enter upon the work 
of general evangelization. 



CHAPTER III 

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL 
ADMINISTRATION 

Sec. 39. — Events of the Period 

With the background we have studied in mind we 
must now consider the progress of events of this 
period. 

The following chart of the administrations of the 
various Central Committees will give a bird's-eye 
view: 

First Central Committee, Washington, 1854-1855. 
Personnel — Wm. Chauncy Langdon, General 
Secretary; Wm. J. Rhees, Zalmon Richards. 
Confederation established by the ratification of 
the Articles of Confederation by twenty-five 
Associations February 20, 1855. New York 
City was counted as one of these. 
Second Convention, Cincinnati, September, 1855. 
President, Wm. Chauncy Langdon. 
Associations represented, 21 ; delegates, 52. 

Second Central Committee, Cincinnati, 1855-1857. 
Personnel — H. Thane Miller, Chairman; Wm. 

H. Neff, and Samuel Lowry, Jr. 
Quarterly Reporter issued January, 1856. 
Third Convention, Montreal, June, 1856. 

President, Wm. H. Neff; delegate to Euro- 
pean Associations, Wm. Chauncy Langdon. 
Associations represented, 26; delegates, 87. 



THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 67 

Fourth Convention, Richmond, May, 1857. 
President, Norton A. Halbert (Buffalo). 
Associations represented, 17; delegates, 51. 
The Great Revival, October, 1857. 

Third Central Committee, Buffalo, 1858-1859. 

Personnel — Oscar Cobb, Chairman; N. A. Hal- 
bert, Edmund A. Swan, Wm. M. Gray; 
Foreign Secretary, Wm. Chauncy Langdon 
(Philadelphia). 

Fifth Convention, Charleston, April, 1858. 
President, Fred A. Sheldon, Troy. 
Associations represented, 24; delegates, 97. 
Student Associations founded at Universities 
of Michigan and Virginia. 

Sixth Convention, Troy, July, 1859. 

President, George H. Stuart (Philadelphia). 
Controversy over the true aim and field of the 
Association and its relation to the Church. 
Associations represented, 72; delegates, 289. 

Fourth Central Committee, Richmond, I860, 

Personnel — J. B. Watkins, Chairman; William 
P. Munford, Corresponding Secretary. 

Seventh Convention, New Orleans, April, 1860. 
President, Wm. P. Munford. 
Physical training endorsed. 
Associations represented, 40; delegates, 128. 

Fifth Central Committee, Philadelphia, 1861-1865. 

Personnel — George H. Stuart, Chairman; John 
Wanamaker, Richard C. McCormick (New 
York), Corresponding Secretary. 

Eighth Convention called for St. Louis; aban- 
doned because of outbreak of Civil War. 



68 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

Sec. 40. — The Washington Administration 
June, 1854, to September, 1855 

The great task of the First Central Committee was 
to carry out the mandate of the Buffalo Convention 
and put the Confederation on its feet. 

The fear of disruption over the slavery issue and 
the fear of dictation and control by a central author- 
ity were the two great obstacles in the pathway of 
establishing an international confederation with an 
executive committee for supervision and promotion. 
These two issues were present in the minds of the 
leaders of every convention. They determined the 
appointment of officers and committeemen and the 
character of resolutions and convention programs. 
The statesmanship of Langdon was assiduously and 
adroitly devoted to avoiding these two rocks and to 
steering his little craft down the stream and out into 
an as yet uncharted sea. 

Delegates returning from the Buffalo Convention 
secured the ratification at once of the Articles of 
Confederation by the Associations of Cincinnati, St. 
Louis, and Washington. The Washington Central 
Committee sent out its first circular within three 
weeks after the adjournment of the convention and 
before the end of July favorable action was taken by 
the Associations at Buffalo, Louisville, Toronto, New 
Orleans, Pittsburgh, and Quincy. Four others, in- 
cluding Philadelphia, accepted the Confederation dur- 
ing the summer, thirteen in all. 

The establishment of the Confederation had been 
made dependent upon its acceptance by at least 
twenty-two local Associations. Those which had 
acted favorably had practically all been represented at 
the Buffalo Convention. Brooklyn declined to accept 
and an article appeared in the Independent condemn- 
ing the idea of a Confederation. The Boston Asso- 



THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 69 

ciation, although its delegate had withdrawn his op- 
position to the Confederation, voted not to enter the 
organization. 

It was evident that some new effort was necessary 
unless the plan was to be abandoned. Langdon and 
Neff met in New York City in August and called on 
several leaders of that society with no apparent re- 
sult. The report of the Buffalo Convention appeared 
in August but did not seem to advance the cause. 
McCartee of New York stated that the chief objec- 
tion raised by that Association was against the term 
"Central" Committee on the ground that this implied 
control of the local Associations. He wrote "that a 
judicious friendly course on the part of the commit- 
tee seconding the efforts of those in New York who 
favored the Confederation, might disarm those who 
seemed over-prudent in the matter." 

Brooks of Toronto now wrote that that society 
would withdraw its approval unless Christian slaves 
were made eligible to membership in all local Asso- 
ciations. Langdon states ("Early Story of the Con- 
federation,*' Year Book, 1888, p. 37) : 

"At this day it would be very difficult for anyone 
whose memory does not antedate the war of 1861- 
1865 to enter understanding^ into the views and 
feelings inevitably involved on either side in such an 
issue. 

"I instinctively felt that this was, perhaps, the true 
crisis of the Confederation. The causes which had 
obstructed the calling of a convention, even to con- 
sider the mutual relations of the Associations, and 
which made so many of them averse to recognize any 
formal relations at all, now presented themselves 
from different directions, and divested of all side 
issues. 

"The Canadian and probably some of the Northern 
Associations were now unwilling that the Confedera- 



70 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

tion should place them in what they regarded as a 
false position in respect to the religious consequences 
of slavery — for instance, Toronto and Providence. 

"The Southern Associations, on the other hand, 
were equally sensitive of anything which would re- 
flect on the Christian principle with which they con- 
formed to the social and political conditions under 
which they were constituted and under which alone, 
of course, they could do their work. Some of these, 
therefore, were unwilling to expose themselves to 
having those principles called in question, as for in- 
stance, Baltimore and Charleston, and, indeed, the 
Association in New Orleans also, whose ratification 
was based on their confidence in those who had se- 
lected Mr. Helme to preside at the Buffalo Conven- 
tion and who had suppressed the Holland resolution. 
Still again, the New York and very likely other As- 
sociations shrank from the Confederation as from an 
arena in which it would be impossible to escape harm 
and controversy from this cause. 

"To decide either way, therefore, on the issue in- 
volved in the Toronto ratification, and brought be- 
fore us by Mr. Brooks' letter, would be in all proba- 
bility to shut out some important Associations on the 
one side or the other. To decide at all would, irre- 
spective of the character of that decision, be an act 
equally unacceptable to those societies which were 
jealous of any authority which would trespass upon 
their autonomy." 

It was evident that the Central Committee must 
give a constructive statement of the significance and 
scope of the Articles of Confederation. Langdon 
states ("Early Story of the Confederation," p. 38) : 
"I met the issue simply by showing that the Buffalo 
resolutions did not provide for any other constitu- 
tion than the general principles which they them- 
selves set forth; and that the executive committee 



THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 71 

was not a governing function authorized to assume 
any control but rather a creature of the confederated 
Associations for certain definite and limited pur- 
poses." 

In order to formulate the committee's ideas, Cir- 
cular No. 2 was issued on November 18, 1854. Some 
of its paragraphs are as follows : "Dear Brothers in 
Christ — The Central Committee have learned that 
there exists in many Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciations a doubt regarding the character and extent 
of the functions and jurisdiction with which that body 
has been invested, which, interfering with a clear 
understanding of what they have been asked to 
ratify, has necessarily interfered with the ratification 
itself. This doubt the committee feel it is due equally 
to such Associations and themselves that they should 
remove by declaring their construction of their char- 
ter." 

"The committee is . . . not a ruling power but an 
agent through which a number of Associations may 
more effectually execute any project in which they 
may desire to unite; not their controller but their 
creature. . . . 

"The proposed union is an alliance rather than a 
Confederation. . . . The bond is chiefly a spiritual 
one and the attraction which holds it together one of 
declared Christian sympathy, brotherhood, and love." 
Without mentioning the slavery issue the circular 
states, "Requests have come from a few sources 
that such and such a principle should be embodied 
in the constitution prepared for the Confederation, 
but the committee have not been authorized to frame 
a constitution and indeed they see no word in the 
proceedings of the Buffalo Convention which implied 
the expected existence of such an instrument." 

The New York Association then accepted the Cen- 
tral Committee as a means of correspondence but did 



72 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

not fully enter the Confederation. Charleston, S. C, 
San Francisco, and Montreal voted favorably during 
the winter months. 

On February 20, 1855, Langdon was able to issue 
Circular No. 3 of the first Central Committee, an- 
nouncing the establishment of the Confederation. 
There were twenty-five Associations listed as uniting 
in the project. 

Toronto soon withdrew. Montreal was intermit- 
tent in its support. Boston, Brooklyn, and Baltimore 
refused to enter the alliance. New York, though its 
name was announced, never participated. 

Buffalo, Washington, and Cincinnati and three 
strong Southern Associations, Richmond, Charles- 
ton, and New Orleans, gave the real vitality to the 
movement for international union. Without the 
efforts of these six Associations the Confederation 
would have ceased to exist. 

The Central Committee now devoted itself to 
welding the Associations together into a sympathetic 
fellowship. A system of correspondence was organ- 
ized both with the American Associations and those 
of Europe. The North American Associations were 
grouped into seven districts with a corresponding 
member of the committee stationed in each. Some 
of the important leaders were induced to accept 
these positions, among them Robert McCartee of 
New York, Charles R. Brookes of Toronto, Zalmon 
Richards of Washington, William H. Neff of Cincin- 
nati, and George W. Helme of New Orleans. Lang- 
don was indefatigable in spreading information re- 
garding the movement and in infusing his confidence 
that it was to become a great world-wide endeavor. 

An invitation was received from Pastor J. Paul 
Cook, then president of the Paris Association, invit- 
ing the committee to send delegates to the first 
world's convention. George H. Stuart, president of 



THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 73 

the Philadelphia Association, Rev. Abel Stevens, vice- 
president of the New York Association, and six other 
delegates were commissioned and attended this 
gathering. 

One of Langdon's most valuable services was the 
extended report which he prepared and sent to the 
Paris Convention. This report gives a survey of the 
American Associations and the history of the found- 
ing of the Confederation. It was published in both 
the Paris and American Convention reports. 

One of the important duties of the first Central 
Committee was to call the second convention of the 
American Associations. It was decided to invite all 
the Associations to send delegates, whether members 
of the Confederation or not. Four Associations com- 
peted for the privilege of entertaining this conven- 
tion, Montreal, Cincinnati, Charleston, and New 
Orleans. Circular No. 4 asks for a vote upon these 
invitations and the replies showed a decided majority 
for Cincinnati. This invitation was accordingly ac- 
cepted. 

Langdon was persistent in urging the claims of the 
Confederation upon Associations which neglected or 
refused to ratify its articles. In Circular No. 5, in- 
viting Associations to send delegates^ he explains 
with great care the relations of the convention as 
well as of the Central Committee to the local Asso- 
ciations. He states: "Since much misunderstanding 
concerning the character of these conventions and 
the function of their members has been manifest it 
appears proper to the committee at this time to state 
the views held by a majority of the confederated As- 
sociations as well as by themselves. ... It appears 
scarcely possible to make it plainer than it is, that 
the Confederated existence is intended in no way, at 
no time, under no circumstances, and in no relation 
whether as a convention or a Central Committee to 



74 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

advance upon the local character of any Association; 
much less can it be contemplated that one society- 
should anywhere in convention or out have the power 
of interference with either the acts or the attitude of 
any other."* 

This later influenced Langdon's attitude as to 
whether the International convention should seek to 
determine the conditions of membership in a local 
Association by insisting on the evangelical basis. He 
regarded such interference as an invasion of local 
autonomy. 

Even a more tactful and more persistent man than 
Langdon could hardly have expected to urge an in- 
ternational union such as he proposed without arous- 
ing public opposition and personal antagonisms. 
Some opposed the Confederation from objections to 
its principles and some from the belief that Langdon 
was seeking either reputation or a salaried position 
for himself. Accordingly Langdon determined to re- 
sign from further participation in Association affairs 
and he also became convinced that it would promote 
the stability of the Central Committee to have its 
headquarters transferred to another city. His own 
story of this transfer is full of interest. 

He says ("Early Story of the Confederation," p. 
43): 

"My motives in all that I had so far done and tried 
to do, had been severely characterized in certain so- 

* The inter-Association polity has continued to recognize individ- 
ualism rather than collectivism, even to the extent of imposing severe 
handicap upon the general progress of the organization. Lack of 
cohesion, inability to function collectively, the absence of a national 
voice, the lack of support for great causes of human progress, char- 
acterize the Association movement with some exceptions to this day, 
but it has on the other hand preserved all of the advantages of 
individualism in the local units, chief amongst which are the belief 
that independency is more likely to develop local leadership, inven- 
tion and perhaps genius, and that economy is said to be promoted 
by the necessity of individual survival. — R. E. L. 



THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 75 

cieties — especially in those of New York and New 
Orleans. However decided in his dissent from my 
policy, Professor Crosby had, of course, ever given 
expression to that dissent with entire Christian cour- 
tesy. But by others it had been publicly charged at 
the very meeting at which the New York society had 
ratified the Buffalo resolutions and since that there 
was little real object in the scheme but my own per- 
sonal aim to open an arena for my own ambition, and 
this judgment accepted by some Southerners then 
present, was afterwards brought up against the plan 
and against me in New Orleans. 

"To Mr. Helme ... I therefore wrote: 'I have 
thought my continuance in my position as general 
secretary was perhaps positively detrimental to our 
dear cause and that the removal of the Central Com- 
mittee from Washington and that the appointment 
of someone else as general secretary would free the 
Confederation from many most disagreeable and 
serious drawbacks upon its unanimity and strength. 

" Indeed I desire to serve the cause I have taken 
in hand, indeed, my dear brother, this is my only 
wish. If it is well I will labor while I can stand the 
weight. If it is best let me withdraw from the active 
labor; still praying for it; most deeply regretting I 
have done so little but with all the heart to have done 
much more/ " 

This was a case of real renunciation, for Langdon 
had deep instincts of loyalty and devotion to any 
cause he espoused, as his whole life service showed. 
One cannot avoid the speculation as to what would 
have been the development of the Association move- 
ment if Langdon could at this period have devoted 
twenty-five years of his constructive genius to its ser- 
vice, as was later done by Cephas Brainerd. 

Langdon states he had not then learned "that such 
harsh misjudgments and personal attacks are the al- 



76 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

most inevitable cost of a sincerely earnest attempt to 
accomplish any public result however good it may 
be in itself, if it be at the time unpopular or unappre- 
ciated by those who oppose it." Langdon's friends 
and many of those concerned for the Confederation 
were opposed to his resigning. The Cincinnati As- 
sociation made him an honorary member. Neff and 
Helme urged him to reconsider his purpose. Lowry 
of Cincinnati wrote : "I could not but consider it fatal 
to the union of our Associations. No one has so clear 
an idea of the object to be gained by such a union, no 
one connected with it is so well qualified to bring it 
into effective operation as yourself/' 

McCormick of New York also urged Langdon not 
to withdraw. He wrote, "Your great intimacy with 
the Associations of this country, your wide corre- 
spondence with those of other lands, and your indus- 
trious and warm Christian spirit combine to make 
you eminently fitted for the important positions 
which you have held in connection with the Confed- 
eration from the day of its organization and which I 
sincerely trust you will by no means abandon." 

Neff visited Langdon and persuaded him to remain 
as general secretary until after the coming conven- 
tion. This he consented to do on condition the head- 
quarters would then be transferred elsewhere. 

The last service of the Washington Central Com- 
mittee was to arrange and promote the second con- 
vention of the Associations. This was held at Cin- 
cinnati in September, 1855. It was a test of the 
vitality of the movement whether the Associations 
would continue to assemble in conventions, whether 
the general administration could be established in a 
new center, and whether a committee of laymen 
could be found sufficiently acquainted with the or- 
ganization and devoted to its objects wisely and effi- 
ciently to direct its affairs. 



THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 77 

The conventions of this period drew only a limited 
number of delegates from a distance and were con- 
sequently more sectional in character than in these 
days of rapid transportation. There was no delegate 
present at Cincinnati from New England, New York 
City, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, or Baltimore. As 
Langdon states, it was largely "a western affair." 
There were fifty-two delegates from twenty-one As- 
sociations in attendance. 

The convention as a challenge to his critics and a 
recognition of his devoted services elected Langdon 
president. Referring to his personal services Lang- 
don states : "It was undoubtedly a kind and brotherly 
acceptance of my work . . . but it was due also to 
the personal strictures to which I had been subjected 
that I was chosen to preside over this convention. It 
was the warm and even indignant ratification of my 
official course and an expression of personal regard 
and confidence." 

Langdon was the dominant spirit at this conven- 
tion as he had been at the Buffalo Convention and 
during the administration of the first Central Com- 
mittee. This is seen in a significant incident. In con- 
nection with a resolution on the true aim of the Asso- 
ciation James Eells of Cleveland introduced two 
resolutions. The second of these was as follows 
(Cincinnati Convention Report, 1856, p. 55) : "Re- 
solved that . . . this convention recognizes those only 
as active members of these Associations who are 
members of evangelical churches. " The president 
(Langdon) ruled as follows: "The chair finds itself 
placed in a disagreeable position but is compelled to 
recognize the necessity of pronouncing the second 
resolution out of order because in violation of the 
Buffalo resolutions of Confederation which expressly 
deny to the convention the right of legislating with 
reference to the local affairs of any Association." 



78 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

H. Thane Miller appealed from the decision of the 
chair. Neff, the ablest leader of the Confederation 
next to Langdon, supported Langdon's decision. He 
said, "Should the convention pass such a resolution 
legislating on the subject of membership they might 
with equal propriety lay out work for the local Asso- 
ciations, directing the establishment of Sabbath 
schools, the invitation of lecturers, etc., and then 
interfering in all the affairs of the Association." 

The appeal was withdrawn and the convention ac- 
cepted Langdon's ruling. The resolution was changed 
to a recommendation. This act of Langdon saved 
the infant organization from the difficulties which 
followed the reversal of this decision thirteen years 
later by the convention at Portland which fixed the 
evangelical test upon the American Association, in- 
vaded local autonomy, and introduced theological dis- 
putes into the Association movement. Langdon's de- 
cision was prompted wholly by his conception of the 
polity of the Association, as he sympathized with re- 
stricting the control of local Associations to mem- 
bers of evangelical churches. 

Langdon presented both the report of the Central 
Committee and the document covering twenty pages 
which he had prepared on the American movement 
for the Paris Convention. These two reports, the 
five circulars issued by the Washington Central Com- 
mittee, and the journal of the Buffalo Convention, all 
prepared or edited by Langdon, may be said to have 
formulated the polity of the American Associations 
in their international affairs. It was a voluntary 
democratic organization made up of locally independ- 
ent units united by a spiritual bond under the guid- 
ance of an advisory committee which received its in- 
structions from a convention of delegates from local 
Associations. 

The Cincinnati Convention was marked by three 



THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 79 

features: (1) the approval of the Paris Basis, (2) the 
discussion of the true sphere of the Associations, (3) 
the establishment of the Quarterly Reporter. 

Neff read (Cincinnati Convention Report, 1855, pp. 
45-46) a letter of greeting from the first world's con- 
vention which had been held the preceding month at 
Paris. This letter describes the organized system of 
correspondence proposed among the Associations of 
the world and presented the declaration of purpose 
and belief known as the Paris Basis. On a motion 
made by Neff this was ratified. The motion stated 
that the convention "approve and hereby ratify the 
resolutions of the Confederation and correspondence 
submitted by the conference of Christian Associa- 
tions lately assembled at Paris." The committee was 
authorized to put these into effect. A reservation, 
however, provided that any local Association would 
have the privilege of withdrawing should it desire to 
do so. The Paris Basis emphasized the unity of the 
Association movement, the independence of the local 
society, and the object of the Association as the 
extension of Christ's Kingdom among young men. 

Its doctrinal statement was strongly and conserva- 
tively evangelical. This was the position of George 
Williams, of Langdon, and practically all of the Asso- 
ciation leaders of the period. 

Preceding the reading of the letter from Paris 
Langdon had read his extended survey of the Ameri- 
can Associations. Referring to difficulties with Uni- 
tarians he said (Cincinnati Report, 1856, p. 92): "In 
Springfield, Mass., the contest with a denomination 
of professing Christians who were not content that 
good should be done unless they might share equally 
in its accomplishment, had sapped the energies of the 
society and filled it with discouragement and the ef- 
forts of this body to ratify the proceedings of the 
Buffalo Convention only gave them proof that the 



80 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

struggle was in vain; and upon their closed doors is 
written a memorial of the 'liberality' and 'charity' of 
those Christians who use these words for their battle- 
cries in this most unchristian warfare. For months 
nothing has been heard from the Association at 
Worcester, its trials were the same, it is feared that 
its fate has been that of Springfield." 

Langdon had thought deeply on the true purpose 
of the Association. He saw that unless the local As- 
sociations understood clearly the purpose for which 
they were organized they would ultimately fail. Ac- 
cordingly on the second day of the convention (Cin- 
cinnati Convention Report, 1855, p. 49) he proposed 
the following resolution: "Whereas both the local and 
general efficiency of any organization is increased 
or diminished in proportion as its character and pur- 
poses are more or less clearly defined and whereas 
great uncertainty has existed and has been mani- 
fested on the above points in many localities where 
Young Men's Christian Associations were being or 
were about to be organized — Resolved, that in the 
opinion of this convention, a Young Men's Christian 
Association is a society which has for its object the 
formation and development in young men of Chris- 
tian character and Christian activity. Resolved fur- 
ther that this convention regards it as important to 
the efficiency and influence of these Associations that 
their energies should be, as far as judicious, concen- 
trated upon the immediate field above set forth." 

Langdon stated that letters were written him re- 
peatedly asking to know the design of the Associa- 
tions and that there was "great danger of going off 
on purposes entirely exterior and in directions (as 
might be seen from some of these reports) which had 
not been dreamed of by any society organized." 

Rev. James Eells of Cleveland took this occasion 
to advocate a resolution insisting on the requirement 



THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 81 

of the evangelical basis for active membership. He 
opposed allowing local Associations to determine for 
themselves the basis of membership. He said, "Shall 
we say we are an Association of moral young men 
in some parts of the country and in other parts, of 
young men connected with the evangelical churches, 
yet all coming together and calling themselves by the 
general name of 'A Christian Association'?" 

The questions of the aim of the Association and the 
basis of membership were referred to a special com- 
mittee of which Eells was appointed chairman. He 
reported the resolution requiring membership in an 
evangelical church of active members but was obliged 
to change this to a recommendation. It was unfor- 
tunate that he eliminated the part of the resolution 
urging the Associations to limit their field of activity 
to young men. 

The resolution adopted stated that the object of 
the Association was "the formation and development 
in young men of Christian character and Christian 
activity." This resolution was ambiguous, for the 
term "Christian activity" was capable of different in- 
terpretations and at the Troy Convention three years 
later Eells and Langdon strongly disagreed as to its 
meaning. It should be borne in mind that Langdon 
proposed this resolution in connection with another 
which Eells eliminated, emphasizing that the distinc- 
tive field of the Association was among young men. 
The divergent tendencies in the American movement 
were already apparent. 

The third step taken by the convention was the 
establishment of a periodical known as the Quarterly 
Reporter for the purpose of affording a means of com- 
munication between the Central Committee and the 
local Associations. In 1859 the Quarterly was changed 
to a monthly under the name of Young Men's Chris- 
tian Journal. 



82 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

On motion of the business committee Cincinnati 
was chosen as headquarters for the Confederation. 
A Central Committee was appointed of thirteen mem- 
bers, five at headquarters and one from each of the 
seven different districts into which the continent was 
divided. Langdon was chosen as an additional mem- 
ber from the Washington district but insisted on with- 
drawing. The second Central Committee as finally 
constituted consisted of H. Thane Miller, chairman; 
Wm. H. Neff, home secretary; members, A. C. Neave, 
George Williams, and Samuel Lowry. Rhees of 
Washington was made foreign secretary. 

One of the pleasing features of the convention was 
the presence of Rev. Wm. Arthur, one of the vice- 
presidents of the parent Association of London, who 
delivered to the convention an address which was 
most cordially received. 

The Cincinnati Convention, with the transfer of 
the Central Committee to new headquarters, may be 
said to have completed the establishment of the Con- 
federation, the most important step next to the found- 
ing of the first Association which had yet been taken. 
Robert McBurney, writing in 1885 (Year Book, 1884, 
p. 35), said, "Humanly speaking had it not been for 
this organization (now the International Committee) 
resulting from the efforts of Mr. Langdon, the his- 
torian even now would probably be compelled to say 
of the American Associations . . . simply that they 
have ceased to exist." 

McBurney further states : "Langdon providentially 
proved equal to the work he had set his heart upon. 
He conducted the delicate negotiations with indomi- 
table energy, enthusiasm, tact, and loving devotion 
and finally triumphed. . . . The Associations in our 
own land and in all lands owe a debt of gratitude to 
Doctor Langdon, deeper and more far-reaching than 
they have ever recognized." 



CHAPTER IV 

LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 

Sec. 41. — The Second Central Committee . 
Cincinnati, September, 1855, to May, 1857 

This committee had a difficult task, as Neff and 
Lowry were the only two members who had been in 
touch with Confederation affairs from the beginning 
and none of the other members attended the two con- 
ventions held during its administration. Neff was 
present at the Montreal Convention, over which he 
presided, and Lowry represented the committee at 
the Richmond Convention. 

Some of the difficulties of this period are illustrated 
by the fact that although the Montreal Association 
entertained the convention of 1856 the following year 
that Association withdrew because the Confederation 
would not adopt an anti-slavery resolution. (Rich- 
mond Convention Report, 1857, p. 32.) 

The Cincinnati Central Committee made a distinct 
contribution in successfully inaugurating the Quar- 
terly Reporter. Seven numbers of this journal were 
issued by this committee and circulated among the 
Associations both at home and abroad. It was de- 
voted to concrete reports of actual work done by 
local Associations, to correspondence with foreign 
Associations, communications from the Central Com- 
mittee, and from members who wished to discuss any 
Association topic. It might be regarded as a continu- 
ation of the annual convention in promoting knowl- 
edge and interest in Association affairs. 



84 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

When the third convention assembled at Montreal 
in June, 1856, a most apprehensive state of mind ex- 
isted on both sides of the national boundary lest the 
political crisis might bring the two countries into 
armed conflict. The Crimean War was at its height. 
Recruiting agents claiming to have authority from 
the British minister were active in a number of cities 
in the United States. Secretary of State Marcy pro- 
tested vigorously, but Lord Clarendon refused to ad- 
mit any complicity on the part of his representative. 
The evidence was slight but in May President Pierce 
broke off diplomatic relations with Great Britain and 
these were not reestablished during the rest of his 
term of office, which continued until March of the 
following year. This situation gave a tense atmos- 
phere to the Montreal Convention. 

Thomas H. Gladstone, president of the Borough 
Branch, London, and one of the leaders of the British 
Associations, was warmly welcomed and gave one of 
the principal addresses. The Convention voted in a 
spirit of international fellowship to send a delegation, 
of whom Langdon was the chief member, to visit the 
Associations in Europe. At the first session Lang- 
don asked if a resolution on the relations between 
England and the United States was in order. This 
was referred to a special committee. The committee 
reported (Montreal Convention Report, 1856, p. 37) 
that while it would not be fitting to discuss purely 
political questions "We feel it our duty to recommend 
to our brethren of Britain and America, in the present 
unsettled relations between the countries, the exer- 
cise of a cool and dispassionate judgment, a calm and 
temperate treatment of all political issues between 
the nations and united prayer to God that He will so 
direct cabinets and temper the tide of popular sym- 
pathy as to insure peace and advance the Kingdom 
of Christ among men." The resolution then pro- 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 85 

posed to the Associations of North America the first 
Tuesday in August as a day of special prayer for 
peace. These resolutions were unanimously adopted. 

While the reports of Associations were being sub- 
mitted an interesting interchange of sentiment took 
place. The delegate from Kingston (Canada) after 
reporting for his Association said : "I cannot sit down 
without giving utterance to the painful emotions 
which the very possibility of war between the two 
great nations represented in this convention gives 
rise to in my mind. I know that I speak the senti- 
ments of my own Association and I believe of every 
Christian young man in these provinces when I hail 
your presence among us, brethren of the United 
States, with gladness and when I give you our most 
cordial welcome. We feel bound to you, brethren, 
by the strongest ties of Christian affection . . . and 
we of Canada cheerfully pledge ourselves to devote 
our energies, our influence, and our prayers to the 
removal of everything which threatens to sever these 
Christian bonds."' 

Several American delegates responded most heart- 
ily to these sentiments. Langdon exclaimed, "We 
stand here the children of one language, one history, 
one faith, one ancestry, to acknowledge our common 
allegiance and to proclaim our loyalty to the Great 
Lord of Rulers and King of Kings." 

Commerce and political interests have done much 
to unite the world and develop a world consciousness 
but international organizations for religious and so- 
cial service like the Red Cross and the Young Men's 
Christian Associations have been among the most 
potent factors in creating a spirit of world brother- 
hood and solidarity. 

The Montreal Convention surpassed its two prede- 
cessors in size and enthusiasm. Eighty-seven dele- 
gates were present from twenty-six Associations and 



86 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

for the first time nonconfederated Associations were 
represented by corresponding delegates. Eight were 
present from Boston, including Moses W. Pond, and 
two from New York City, one of whom was Richard 
C. McCormick. William H. Neff, corresponding sec- 
retary of the Central Committee, was elected presi- 
dent of the convention. George H. Stuart of Phila- 
delphia, a delegate for the first time, was chosen one 
of the vice-presidents. Langdon and Rhees partici- 
pated actively in the convention proceedings. 

The most interesting incident of the convention 
was the introduction by Rhees of three resolutions, 
one on physical training and two on amusements. 
It is significant that these propositions were presented 
together and by the same liberal-minded man. They 
were intimately related to the new ideal in religious 
education and social service which the Young Men's 
Christian Association was destined to embody. They 
were an instinctive recognition that the awakening 
of interest on the part of young men must take the 
place of external authority, that the democratic spirit 
rather than the autocratic must dominate Christian 
effort. 

These two questions were to influence profoundly 
not only the Young Men's Christian Association but 
all religious life and thought. For thirty years the 
Young Men's Christian Association was to be the 
battleground between the puritan ascetic ideal and 
the social and democratic ideal of religious life and 
effort. 

Both physical training and amusements were de- 
veloped because the Association was seeking to serve 
young men in their leisure time. It was not from 
any philosophic theory of their character value that 
these were promoted, but by the tedious method of 
trial and error and the law of the survival of the fittest 
they came into universal acceptance. The Associa- 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 87 

tions which used these agencies survived and were 
helpful to young men. The others except among stu- 
dents disappeared. Guided recreation, play, and 
physical education were found to contribute to the 
development of personality and to stable Christian 
character. A wholesome attractive environment 
drew young men irresistibly from lives of indulgence 
and sin. 

The resolutions proposed by Rhees were (Mont- 
real Convention Report, 1856, pp. 15, 67) : "1. 
Whether any means can be provided by Young Men's 
Christian Associations for the physical development 
and promotion of the health of their members by 
gymnasiums, baths, etc. 2. The practical influence 
of theaters and similar places of amusement on young 
men. 3. The best means of rendering the rooms of 
the Association attractive to worldly young men." 

The resolutions on the gymnasium and amuse- 
ments were laid on the table. 

The resolution adopted for attracting "worldly 
young men" was as follows : "That among the most 
important means are rooms central in their location 
and cheerfully and tastefully furnished, libraries and 
reading rooms, debates, socials, lectures, and Bible 
classes." Most of these agencies were remote from 
the dominant interest of "worldly young men," who 
would have been far more interested in physical 
training and athletic games. 

The two resolutions laid on the table are of such 
great significance that they are quoted in part. The 
first was regarding physical training prepared by 
George A. Bell of Brooklyn : 

"Vital piety and earnest practical godliness are in- 
timately connected with a healthy physical system. 
. . . Associations should make arrangements for the 
physical improvement and the development of their 
members. . . . Especially is this necessary ... in 



88 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

our large cities. . . . The establishment of some 
such means . . . would doubtless induce many- 
young' men whose hearts have not been . given to 
Christ to join the Associations and thus they would 
be brought under the influence of the members and 
led perhaps to the prayer meeting and finally to the 
foot of the cross. 

"That when properly conducted, gymnasiums, 
baths, and bowling alleys are beneficial to bodily 
health and physical vigor. 

"That public sentiment in many of our cities in re- 
gard to bowling alleys renders it inexpedient for this 
convention to recommend their establishment. 

"That we look upon billiards as detrimental to 
health and morals. 

"That this convention approves of every proper 
means . . . for interesting and improving the young 
men of our cities and of thus drawing under good 
and Christian influences those whose hearts have not 
yet been given to the Saviour. 

"That . . . the convention would respectfully 
recommend to the Associations . . . the establish- 
ment of gymnasiums and baths to be as far as possi- 
ble self-supporting." 

The resolution on amusement was presented by 
R. Terhune of Newark, New Jersey. After speaking 
of the evil influence of the theater as then conducted 
for commercial gain and of horse racing and the cir- 
cus as prone to "excite the imagination and influence 
the baser passions of men," it was 

"Resolved, that these kinds of amusements can be 
best counteracted by furnishing . . . such recrea- 
tions as are moderately and healthfully stimulating, 
such as social reunions, healthful games, concerts of 
music, festivals, etc., and everything which can be 
devised as attractive for good." 

This and the resolution on physical training failed 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 89 

of adoption, but their advocates gained ground and 
were determined to urge a sane wholesome life for 
young men. The traditional attitude of a church nur- 
tured in puritan ideals regarding dancing, cards, bil- 
liards, the drama, bowling, the use of Sunday, and 
even the reading of fiction presented a thorny path 
before any organization which wished to sanctify the 
recreations and leisure time of young men.* 

The Young Men's Christian Association has been 
strikingly conservative in its theology, but it has 
been astonishingly radical in its methods in pioneer- 
ing the use of recreation and physical training as a 
means of building character. It has led the Church 
to adopt the policy of direction rather than repression 
of the play instinct. When games such as checkers 
and chess were first introduced in the New York City 
Association as late as 1869 McBurney reported them 
as furniture in order to avoid opposition and for the 
same reason the classes in gymnastics were listed un- 
obtrusively with the classes in French and English. 

It is not surprising that at the convention at Rich- 
mond in 1857 that the Cincinnati Committee in its re- 
ports states (Richmond Convention Report, 1857, p. 
41), "This Committee believe that the spiritual bene- 
fit first of the members themselves and secondly of 
those around them should be the one great object of 
the Associations and further that the means tending 

* These radicals of yesterday look almost like conservatives today ; 
that is the lot of the radicals, but they are remembered because they 
were. They would be forgotten otherwise. Those that determine 
the course of history must seem to be radical; that is what makes 
them stand forth, and in the twentieth century the men who are 
attempting to liberalize the Association must expect to be treated 
with suspicion by the predominant conservatives until the new gen- 
eration finally rallies to their support and the new age has its way. 
So only is social progress made. "Advanced men" who are sus- 
picioned, and are treated with contumely or at least receive the hot 
opposition of the average man, ultimately are to be accredited with 
the term "leadership," and is it not the only way leadership may be 
secured? — R. E. L. 



90 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

directly to this end such as the Bible class, the devo- 
tional meeting, the Sabbath School, and other Chris- 
tian labors should receive attention in preference to 
the library, reading room, and miscellaneous lectures 
which can only be considered as leading to it inci- 
dentally and are usually attended with heavy ex- 
penses." 

Unknowingly, the Associations were rapidly ap- 
proaching a religious upheaval which, with the Civil 
War, was destined to postpone for a number of years 
progress in the evolution of the program for develop- 
ing all-round manhood in body, mind, and spirit. 

The Richmond Convention assembled in May, 
1857; the attendance was small. Langdon was in 
Europe. Samuel Lowry was the only member of the 
Central Committee present. Rhees and Richards of 
Washington were the only other representatives of 
the pioneer group. Writing some years later of this 
convention Lowry said: "There is usually a period 
in the progress of any movement . . . when the 
force of the original impulse seems to be nearly 
exhausted and about to become inert ... a position 
similar to that of heavy machinery when it is de- 
scribed as being on a dead center. ... It was during 
such a season of comparative inaction that the Rich- 
mond Convention was held. It was an important 
meeting . . . successful in its influence in turning the 
ebbing tide and in infusing fresh energy into the 
work." 

Sec. 42. — Third Central Committee 

Headquarters, Buffalo, 1857-1859 

The Richmond Convention voted to transfer the 
headquarters of the Central Committee from Cincin- 
nati to Buffalo. The third Central Committee accord- 
ingly began its administration in the summer of 1857 
with Oscar Cobb as chairman, Wm. M. Gray as home 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 91 

secretary, N. A. Halbert as editor of the Quarterly 
Reporter, and Samuel Lowry of Cincinnati as foreign 
secretary. 

Some of the most remarkable experiences in the 
history of the American movement occurred under 
the administration of the Buffalo Committee. These 
were the great religious awakening and the important 
convention at Troy in 1859. Both of these tended to 
divert the Association from its primary field of 
endeavor. 

Reference has already been made to the financial 
panic which overtook New York and the business in- 
terests of the entire country in October, 1857. A far- 
reaching revival followed immediately on its heels. 
This revival has had a profound influence on all the 
later history of the North American Associations. 
Other revivals are associated with the names of great 
evangelists, Moody, Charles G. Finney, Wesley, Ed- 
wards, Whitefield. This revival was the work of lay- 
men. 

Preaching has been a prominent feature of other 
religious awakenings. This one was characterized by 
prayer meetings. 

The great evangelists represented different de- 
nominations. The unique feature of this revival was 
that it was everywhere a union interdenominational 
movement. 

The characteristics of the awakening were leader- 
ship by laymen, prayer meetings, and interdenomina- 
tional fellowship. 

These three dynamic factors begot a fervid enthusi- 
asm that made this religious revival one of the most 
far-reaching of any in American history. ("Life of 
Robert R. McBurney," pp. 42-46) : "Early in the year 
1856, several members of the New York Association, 
among them L. L. Deane, became convinced that 
some means should be adopted by which to reach the 



92 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

150,000 young men residing in the heart of the 
metropolis. This conviction was strengthened by 
the report of Richard C. McCormick relating to the 
operation of kindred Associations in Great Britain 
and other parts of Europe. 

"In August, after a vain effort to secure the John 
Street Methodist Church, application was made by ■ 
Deane for the use of the consistory of the Dutch Re- 
formed Church on Fulton Street, for the purpose of 
carrying on union prayer meetings chiefly for men. 
The use of the rooms was granted on any evening not 
required for meetings of the church, and a weekly 
meeting was commenced. The first noon prayer 
meeting was held in September, 1856. The meeting 
was held daily for a time, and then three times a week, 
between 12 and 1 o'clock. This continued until the 
summer of 1857, when it was deemed best, owing to 
the absence of many from the city, to suspend it for 
a time. 

"These meetings were upon a purely union basis. 
The invitation was, 'Come and go as you like, and 
stay no longer than suits your convenience/ A num- 
ber of gentlemen from the Young Men's Christian 
Association cooperated with Deane, among them 
Robert R. McBurney and Edward Colgate. This is 
McBurney's first recorded service in connection with 
the Association. 

"In order to gather young men to these meetings, 
printed cards of invitation were distributed copiously 
in houses of business. Later in the summer, under 
the leadership of Colgate, a number of the members 
of the Association were making arrangements for re- 
opening the noon meeting. 

"While the committee was in session in a store in 
the neighborhood of Fulton Street, J. C. Lamphier, 
who, in the meantime, on July first, had been ap- 
pointed city missionary by the consistory of the 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 93 

Dutch Reformed Church, called and said he had al- 
ready taken some steps toward reopening the meet- 
ing. He urged the young men to leave it in his care, 
and asked them to take hold with him and help sus- 
tain it rather than have two meetings. The young 
men approved of this proposition, provided the exer- 
cises be sustained on a thoroughly union basis. They 
went to work with Lamphier and cooperated heartily. 

"In the meantime the financial depression which 
was sweeping over the whole country was approach- 
ing a crisis. The most serious financial panic which 
New York or the country at large has ever expe- 
rienced came in October, 1857. It was so overwhelm- 
ing that it prostrated the monetary system of the 
country. This panic turned the attention of thou- 
sands of business men to the consideration of other 
than worldly matters, and was followed by a marvel- 
ous religious awakening which stirred the entire 
nation. 

"Immediately the prayer meeting at the Dutch Re- 
formed Church became crowded. Soon three meet- 
ings were being held simultaneously in different parts 
of the consistory building. Members of the Young 
Men's Christian Association were active in these 
meetings. The crowds became so large 'it was 
clearly seen that the Association had only just en- 
tered upon its work and in February a committee 
was appointed to organize and sustain free of expense 
to the Association union prayer meetings in such sec- 
tions of the city as the necessities of the case and the 
signs of the time seemed to demand.' Meetings were 
started by the Association in the John Street Metho- 
dist Church, in the Ninth Street Dutch Reformed 
Church, in the Dutch Reformed Church at Broome 
and Greene Streets, in Burton's old theater, and in 
the Central Presbyterian Church. 'A circular letter 
was prepared expressly for the clergy, setting forth 



94 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

the object of the Association and giving an account 
of the union prayer meetings held in the city.' Other 
agencies besides the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tions rallied to this movement, until in New York 
City alone one hundred and fifty noon prayer meet- 
ings were being carried on simultaneously. 

"The report sent by the American Central Commit- 
tee to the World's Conference, held at Geneva, July, 
1858, says: 'Union prayer meetings are maintained 
or have been in all our large places. By the union 
meetings large churches, or even deserted theaters, 
have been crowded. In them sectarianism is lost. It 
has been perceived that the principle and practice of 
cordial union among Christians of different persua- 
sions, not for ecclesiastical purposes but for the cul- 
tivation of personal holiness and the conversion of 
men, is the primary force which has sustained and 
advanced this awakening. Where did the principle 
and practice originate and find embodiment? Was 
it not in the Young Men's Christian Association? 
These Associations have steadily advanced and in- 
creased in numbers. All this had been going on for 
years, and the great principle of religious activity 
upon a union basis had become a practical fact. Hence 
the agency for the great work was at hand. As the 
revival proceeded upon a union basis, our Associa- 
tions were ready at the outset without any adjust- 
ment of machinery for the work. The union field was 
emphatically their field. In many places, as in New 
York, Baltimore, and Louisville, our Associations 
were the first to hold union meetings, the example of 
which was soon followed by the churches.' ' 

The report of the New York Association for 1862 
says: "The noon-day union prayer meetings in Ful- 
ton Street, now in successful operation, will so long 
as it continues, or the memory of it remains, be a 
monument and a proof of the good our Association 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 95 

has accomplished. The young men composing the 
committee which planted the seeds and watched the 
young life of that now renowned and blessed meeting 
are still numbered among our most earnest mem- 
bers." 

The revival spread throughout the entire nation 
and was even carried to the northern counties of Ire- 
land. Wherever Young Men's Christian Associations 
existed, these Associations by common consent took 
the initiative in inaugurating noon prayer meetings 
of a union character carried on largely by laymen. 

In April, 1858, Jesse Clement, district member of 
the Central Committee, Dubuque, Iowa, wrote 
(Charleston Convention Report, 1858, p. 29) : "You 
will rejoice to know that the blessed work of grace 
which is sweeping over the country like a wind-driven 
prairie fire is in this part of the land greatly enlarg- 
ing the number of young men who will hereafter be 
found fighting on the side of truth. Of four hundred 
recent converts in the city of Dubuque about one 
fourth are young men." At St. Paul four daily prayer 
meetings were conducted by the Association which 
were largely attended. Three of these meetings were 
in fire engine houses. 

Louisville, Kentucky, reported a very deep interest 
in similar meetings in that city. A commercial 
traveler reported that one could travel from New 
York City to Omaha and find a daily union prayer 
meeting in progress in every town of any importance. 

In Philadelphia in May, 1858, a large tent was 
erected and daily evangelistic services conducted dur- 
ing the entire summer. This example was followed 
by the Cincinnati Association, which established a 
"Union Tabernacle" which became widely known. 
The Lay Delegation Movement began in Cincinnati. 
By this team method a group of business men would 
visit a community, conduct a number of evangelistic 



96 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

services, and urge the Christian men of the town to 
organize similar lay delegations for tours of the 
smaller communities in their neighborhoods. By 
this organized effort the population of entire states 
was influenced. 

One result of the revival was the formation of many 
new Associations. New England had refrained be- 
cause of abolition sentiment from supporting the Con- 
federation. It was reported in 1858 that the number 
of Associations in New England had increased from 
eight to eighteen. In New York State and Pennsyl- 
vania thirteen new Associations were organized dur- 
ing the year. The Central Committee report for 1859 
showed (Troy Convention Report, 1859, p. 134) "that 
out of 182 Associations then in existence 98 or 54 per 
cent had been organized within that year." It was 
impossible to assimilate so large a proportion of new 
organizations to the old ideals. These Associations 
became lay organizations for general evangelistic and 
missionary endeavor, with work for young men as an 
incidental feature. All the patient efforts of Lang- 
don, Rhees, Lowry, Neff, and McCormick to inaugu- 
rate a specialized society for the building of Christian 
character among young men seemed overwhelmed in 
the new enthusiasm. 

Eells of Cleveland, Miller of Cincinnati, Stuart of 
Philadelphia, and others transformed the Association 
into a glowing general evangelistic agency for "the 
propagation of the Gospel" in rural and urban com- 
munities alike. 

In recent years leaders of institutional churches 
have announced that the work of the Young Men's 
Christian Association was ended and the short-lived 
Inter-Church World Movement was pointed out as 
rendering the Young Men's Christian Association un- 
necessary, but in 1858 and 1859 men were outspoken 
in announcing that the denominational church be- 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 97 

cause of its divisions had failed to save the world and 
a new union agency, the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation, had been raised up of God to take its place. 
Clergymen heard ardent laymen proclaim a new in- 
stitution which would supersede the Church. 

Many forms of religious and philanthropic work 
were being carried on widely by the Young Men's 
Christian Association. From the very first conven- 
tion in 1854 mission Sunday schools and city missions 
were promoted; later Bible and tract distribution 
flourished. Almshouses and charitable institutions 
were visited for the purpose of conducting religious 
meetings and cheering the sick. During the yellow 
fever scourge in New Orleans a most heroic service 
was rendered in which the vice-president of the Asso- 
ciation laid down his life. The Montreal Association 
employed a city missionary, while another Associa- 
tion reported a sewing school for little girls. 

With such diversity in its program, with the doub- 
ling of the number of Associations in a single year, it 
is not surprising that the American movement was 
carried off its feet, its original aim obscured, and its 
efforts directed to the general revival work which at 
the time absorbed the entire Church. The Kingston, 
Ontario, Association reported apologetically: "The 
ground of the Bible Society was occupied, also that of 
the tract society and the city missionary and the 
Sunday school instruction. We contented ourselves, 
therefore, with the improvement of young men." 
(Cincinnati Report, 1855, p. 13.) 

The Buffalo Association, while commending these 
various forms of effort as necessary to develop the re- 
ligious life and activity, reports that their main ob- 
jective and original purpose was the religious welfare 
of young men. The clearest conception of the Asso- 
ciation's mission is found in the work of the New 
York City Association which kept itself aloof from 



98 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

the general Association movement. This society 
(Cincinnati Convention Report, 1855, p. 20) encour- 
aged its members to engage in all helpful effort under 
other appropriate auspices but confined the work of 
the organization itself "to the moral and spiritual im- 
provement of young men/' 

Langdon was absent in Europe during the early 
months of 1857. His conviction had been steadily 
growing, that the Association was a specialized 
agency of the Church limited to its very important 
field of work for young men by young men. He re- 
turned home with this conviction clarified and 
strengthened by contact with the Associations 
abroad. He found the attitude of the American As- 
sociations rapidly changing under the heat of the re- 
vival. He set himself with all his ardent nature to 
stem the tide. The Association seemed to be desert- 
ing him like a wayward son leaving an anxious father. 

Upon his return from Europe, Langdon was ap- 
pointed foreign secretary of the Central Committee. 
He was present at the Charleston Convention in 1858 
as a recently ordained Episcopal clergyman. Lang- 
don's attitude becomes undoubtedly more ecclesiasti- 
cal from this time on. Shortly afterwards he removed 
to Philadelphia to begin his ministry. He sought in 
vain to influence the Association to confine its work 
to young men only and leave to the Church the task 
of preaching to the masses. 

In the January issue of the Young Men's Christian 
Journal, 1859 (p. 11), Langdon in an article on the 
London Association said: "In the United States the 
great revival . . . has been the occasion of subject- 
ing cool heads to warm hearts to such an extent that 
some of the best and oldest friends of the institution 
among the clergy of more than one denomination 
have been compelled to expose themselves to the 
charge of unfaithfulness and decreasing affection by 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 99 

lifting up a warning voice. There is danger before 
us in America and danger, too, the more to be feared 
that it comes to us in the noblest and holiest impulses. 
The Bible Society, the Tract Society, and the Ameri- 
can Sunday School Union, those great societies which 
have so long and so harmoniously united Christians 
of various communions, have done so because they 
have a clearly defined object and sphere to which they 
are limited and in which all can labor because they 
are thus preserved clear in their joint action from 
all contact with denominational principles. . . . The 
Young Men's Christian Association is not an institu- 
tion for the general promulgation of the Gospel, but 
an institution to fit young men to be, 'in the sphere of 
their daily calling,' efficient supports and members of 
the institution which was divinely appointed for that 
work." 

Rev. Alfred Taylor of Philadelphia replied vigor- 
ously in the February Journal, stating the position of 
the leaders who favored using the Association for 
general religious effort. He quoted Langdon and then 
stated the generally accepted view. (The Young 
Men's Christian Journal, February, 1859, pp. 28-29.) 
" 'The Young Men's Christian Association is not an 
institution for the general promulgation of the Gos- 
pel.' I had always thought it was. I have looked on it 
as an agency, and a very direct agency, for the evan- 
gelization of those who have never yet been reached 
by the Gospel, and I think that a large majority of the 
Christians who have been connected with it have so 
considered it. . . . There is work enough to keep both 
ministers and laymen employed. . . . Fearful and 
ultra-conservative friends may raise their warning 
voice in alarm lest the Church should be over- 
whelmed, let us press on assured that it will not be." 

This controversy which was to last for over twenty 
years was in full swing; there were three groups. 



100 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

First, those whose absorbing interest was in any form 
of evangelistic work. Second, those who wished to 
carry on evangelistic work for young men, minimiz- 
ing the so-called secular agencies, and a third group 
who wished to serve young men in an all-round man- 
ner, making evangelistic effort a fitting part of the 
program. 

Another group arose chiefly outside the Associa- 
tion, who began to criticise the movement as usurping 
the work of the Church. Underlying all of this dis- 
cussion was the problem of allowing the growing re- 
ligious interest of laymen to express itself wisely and 
efficiently. There has always been an undiscriminat- 
ing type of layman who plunges crudely into any form 
of effort provided it is labeled religious and there has 
always been the narrow high-church type of clergy- 
man who cannot discriminate between the ministry 
and the Church and who discounts any religious effort 
which is not done under denominational auspices and 
under ministerial control. 

Langdon recognized this situation and sought to 
harmonize these conflicting factions, but he was un- 
able to do so. The new recruits to the Association 
cause repudiated his leadership and it must be said for 
the most part could not comprehend his position. 
Langdon himself, having now given his life to the 
ministry, was inclined to be less cordial than formerly 
to any endeavor not carried on under Church aus- 
pices. 

Sec. 43. — A Repudiated Leader 

The Troy Convention of 1859 was the "climax of 
the Confederation period." The chief issues were the 
scope and aim of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation and the relation of the Association to the 
Church. Langdon had been asked to address the con- 
vention and he took this occasion to urge his convic- 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 101 

tion before a body almost unanimously opposed to 
him. He says ("Early Story of the Confederation," 
Year Book, 1888) : "I had already resigned my minis- 
terial position in Philadelphia. I was soon to go 
abroad for an absence of an indefinite duration. It 
was possibly the last time I should be able to meet 
my brethren in consultation upon such interest. . . . 
I resolved to make an attempt at least to arrest this 
then widely spreading impulse which seemed to me 
to be utterly running away with our enthusiasm, dis- 
sipating our energies, distracting our counsels, nay, 
alienating the ministry and the older and more 
weighty lay Christians of the Church and thus jeop- 
ardizing the power and future influence of the Asso- 
ciation." 

There were 289 delegates at Troy from seventy- 
two Associations. There were more delegates pres- 
ent than at the five preceding conventions com- 
bined. Philadelphia was represented by nineteen 
members, who took the leading part in this conven- 
tion. Its chief delegates were George H. Stuart, John 
Wanamaker, Rev. George S. Fox, and Rev. Alfred 
Taylor. Langdon, though recognized as a delegate 
because of his position as foreign secretary, had no 
credentials from the Philadelphia Association. 

New York City for the first time sent regularly ap- 
pointed delegates. They, however, took only a sub- 
ordinate part in the convention. Cephas Brainerd 
was present for the first time at an international con- 
vention. New England sent fifty-four delegates from 
seventeen Associations. H. Thane Miller was pres- 
ent from Cincinnati; Munford and Watkins from 
Richmond; Richards and Rhees were present from 
Washington, but did not support Langdon. A ma- 
jority of the delegates had never attended any pre- 
vious convention and most of the Associations had 
never been previously represented. It was a new 



102 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

body of men with little consciousness of the Associa- 
tion life of the past in America and almost no knowl- 
edge of the principles, activities, and programs of the 
Associations abroad. 

The Central Committee from Buffalo were repre- 
sented by Gray, Halbert, and Swan. This committee 
made an extended report of the increase in the num- 
ber of Associations due to the revival and of the 
abounding activity of the Associations in evangelistic 
work. It was reported that a vast number of meet- 
ings were being carried on in cities, towns, and rural 
districts all over America. 

One feature of the program was an essay presented 
by A. L. Thompson of Bridgeport, Connecticut, on 
the "Relation of the Association to the Church." 

The Boston Association had taken a distinctive 
step at the very start in allying itself with the Church 
by requiring that active members must be members 
of evangelical churches. This made the Association 
practically an agency of the united churches. To 
clarify further this relationship, a resolution was 
unanimously adopted at the Montreal Convention 
(Montreal Convention Report, 1856, p. 68) as fol- 
lows : "Resolved, . . . that we do not intend that this 
institution shall take the highest place in our affec- 
tions or the largest share in our labors but that we 
hold this organization as auxiliary to the divinely ap- 
pointed means of grace, the Church and the preaching 
of the Gospel." This resolution was reaffirmed at the 
Richmond Convention the following year and the As- 
sociations were urged to avoid carefully in their en- 
terprises anything which might interfere with duties 
of members to their respective churches. 

In discussing the relation of the Association to the 
Church, Thompson in his essay said, "To a certain 
class of minds our very right to existence is not with- 
out question, inasmuch as that existence seems to 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 103 

them to reflect painfully upon the Church/' (Troy 
Convention Report, 1859, p. 23.) "To them there is a 
tone almost of insult in the plea that a work un- 
accomplished and a want not ministered to call us 
away." 

The rapid growth of the Association made it neces- 
sary to have a clear understanding of its relation to 
the Church. The increasing evangelistic activity in- 
tensified this necessity. Thompson said, "Witness the 
tent on Boston Common — in the squares of Phila- 
delphia and Cincinnati — the countless neighborhood 
meetings — the mission schools of every city and town 
of size in the land." 

Thompson took the position that the Association 
was the offspring of the Church and that it was 
auxiliary to it. He went still further and took the 
only position on which the Young Men's Christian 
Association can permanently stand, that it is a part 
of the Church. He said, "Of the Church these Asso- 
ciations are an integral part, the light-armed, chosen, 
consecrated, fleet of foot, and trusty band sent out to 
reconnoitre and open the way for salvation to follow." 

The device of requiring active members to be mem- 
bers of the Church has proved a statesmanly plan. It 
placed the Association in the hands of laymen. It 
made the Association dependent upon the Church for 
support but it left the Association freedom of action 
in its own affairs. The churches have adequate con- 
trol because the Association must so conduct its 
affairs as to merit financial support and Church ap- 
proval. On the other hand, no denomination can dic- 
tate the details of Association policy. Thompson 
outlined for all time the true relationship of the As- 
sociation to the Church when he described it as an 
"integral part." 

The Association has succeeded in uniting itself to 
the denominations and at the same time retaining its 



104 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

interdenominational character. It has, however, never 
accepted Langdon's contention that it must not fol- 
low any policy contrary to any tenet of any denomi- 
nation which it recognizes. The Association has re- 
tained the right of independent judgment and action.* 

Rev. George S. Fox, Episcopal minister from Phila- 
delphia, presented a paper which aroused an extended 
debate on the real scope and mission of the Associa- 
tion. It was closely tied up with the discussion of 
Thompson's paper on the "Relation of the Associa- 
tion to the Church." Its subject was the "Relation 
and Duty of Associations to City, Town, and Village 
Evangelization." 

Fox set out to argue for a specialized field for the 
Association. He said: 

"The field of Christian labor is as vast as the world 
itself, the classes to be operated upon, as varied as 
the ages and conditions of life, and the idea that we, 

* The extensive correspondence of recent commissions of the Asso- 
ciation in relation to the Churches (see report of the Detroit Inter- 
national Convention, 1919) gave evidence of continued unrest in the 
ministry regarding the Association's relation to the Churches. Al- 
though our continuous control since the Civil War period has been 
vested in Church members, the Churches do not consider the Associa- 
tion to be a constituent part. It is something aloof, and the continu- 
ous claim of Association members that the Association is "a part 
of the Churches" and "the right arm of the Churches" is a supposi- 
tion which does not receive similar reiteration at the hands of 
Church leaders. 

The fact is, the articulation of the organized Associations with 
the organized Churches is not perfected. There are a multitude of 
other societies organized and administered by Christian people which 
the Churches as such do not claim as their own, though they are 
proud to have promoted the principles of service and trained the 
individuals who in their private capacities have carried forward 
these good works. It has been said that the Church is a poor execu- 
tor of her own ideals. It must be said equally that the Association 
is an imperfect exponent of its theory of its being dominated by the 
Churches. The official unity of the Association with these great 
spiritual forces waits for solution. The spiritual unarticulated unity 
of Church people with the Association for the ideals and service of 
the Association is much stronger than the official. — R. E. L. 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 105 

as an Association, should attempt to occupy the 
whole field or to meet the wants of every class ought 
not to gain a second thought from any intelligent 
considerator of the nature and capacity of our organi- 
zations and yet it is by a practical ignoring of this in- 
ability that many of our Associations are wasting 
their energies and destroying their capability to per- 
form the work for which we believe they were called 
into being. 

"We hold that the object of the Young Men's 
Christian Associations, as their name implies, is and 
ought to be the moral elevation of young men and 
that any Association departs widely from its high call- 
ing when it engages in works no matter how good 
and praiseworthy in themselves, ... if they have 
not especial bearing upon this particular class. 

"The establishment of this position indeed narrows 
our field of labor but it in the same proportion con- 
centrates our energies." 

Fox, without any apparent sense of incongruity, 
then went on to recommend the establishment of 
union prayer meetings as one of the great means 
for promoting the object of the Associations. He 
submitted the following resolutions: "1. That the 
work of the Young Men's Christian Association is 
preeminently the evangelization of young men and 
that all efforts which we put forth in the capacity of 
its members should have special bearing upon this 
class. ... 4. That union prayer meetings and 
preaching in places where congregations of young 
men can best be obtained have . . . proved to be so 
peculiarly fitted to our organization that this conven- 
* tion commends them to the Associations of the coun- 
try at large." 

Eells of Cleveland opposed the position taken by 
Fox. He said, speaking of small communities: "You 
cannot keep up the life and spirit of such organiza- 



106 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

tions unless you give them Sabbath school work, mis- 
sion work, and tract distribution. There should be 
plenty for members to do in the evangelization of 
whole neighborhoods everywhere with all classes, 
sexes, ages. ... I cannot endorse the idea that all 
the work of Christian Associations should be con- 
fined to the evangelization of young men." 

Rev. G. G. Smith of Macon, Georgia, "dissented 
from the recommendations of the essay." Even 
McCormick of New York, an old Association leader, 
said, "Let us go in and occupy every field not already 
occupied." 

Eells proposed as a substitute for Fox's resolution, 
"Resolved that while we should work especially in 
behalf of young men, for the sake of our Association, 
as well as for the sake of our Master's cause, we 
should be ready to enter upon any work which He 
shall open before us." 

Langdon at once replied, reading from the Cin- 
cinnati Convention Report to show that Eells then 
reported a resolution maintaining that the aim of the 
Association was the evangelization of young men. 
Eells replied that "the work of two years had changed 
the character of such organizations and given them 
new power." A long debate followed. 

At a later session Langdon presented his paper on 
"The Duty of the Association to Young Men." In 
this paper Langdon introduced a new element into 
the controversy, which was already at a white heat. 
He urged first that the only legitimate field of the 
Association was work for young men, and second that 
in the promoting of that work the Associations must 
not violate the convictions of any of the denomina- 
tions of which the Association is composed; that 
certain of these denominations held that the Church 
was the only constituted authority for the "gen- 
eral propagation of the Gospel" and that the As- 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 107 

sociations were in danger of usurping its function. 
In closing he submitted the following resolutions. 

"... Third, Resolved — that the Young Men's 
Christian Association is not an institution for the 
general propagation of the Gospel. It is not hers 
to enter upon the work of evangelization nor upon 
the independent exercise of any of the functions of 
the visible Church of Christ; but it is rather a func- 
tion of the Church under its entire control and auxil- 
iary and subordinate to the same and, therefore, in- 
capable of entering upon any field of labor which may 
not be virtually and practically the common field of 
each and every denomination in the Association 
rather than the field of the Association itself. 

"Resolved — that the institution abides by its his- 
toric position, that it is an institution for the 'forma- 
tion and development in young men of Christian 
character and Christian activity' and 

"That it deprecates any departure from this limita- 
tion of its sphere as greatly detrimental to its influ- 
ence and usefulness." 

William H. Fowle of Alexandria "regretted exceed- 
ingly the introduction of this paper — he differed from 
it in toto." He presented an answer to each item. 
The debate was postponed to a later session when the 
resolutions of Langdon, Fox, and Eells were all 
brought up together. 

Fox failed to support his previous contention. He 
withdrew his resolution limiting the field of the Asso- 
ciation to young men and accepted the substitute pre- 
sented by Eells, thus abandoning Langdon to his fate. 
Langdon later vividly described the scene as follows : 

"Of this discussion the report in the Convention 
journal gives no real account and it notes but a frac- 
tion of what was said. The Philadelphia Presbyterian 
was accurate in saying that a 'warm debate ensued.' " 

"Nothing could be kinder nor more considerate 



108 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

than the personal treatment I received. . . . But 
not a voice was raised for the position which I de- 
fended. Some speakers went so far as to say that the 
churches had wholly failed, that their division had put 
it out of their power to evangelize the world, and that 
the Association had, therefore, been raised up to do 
this work in their stead. Others were content with 
insisting that as a Christian body we were bound to 
do any Christian work that we could. 

"As for my resolutions, the Presbyterian adds, 
'Everyone spoke against them. . . . Mr. Langdon 
was like a lone sheep among three hundred ravenous 
wolves.* All the speeches can be summed into a very 
few words ; they were all against the resolutions/ 

"The excitement was great; the situation was 
really dramatic. I felt that I was contending not 
only for my own footing in the Associations . . . but 
for the whole future of the Associations themselves, 
for their relations to those in the old world, and for 
their place in respect to the Church of Christ. 

"The rule restricting a member to a single speech 
was suspended in my favor. Standing at bay as it 

*The majority against Langdon was wrong, as majorities usually 
are when it comes to moral leadership. This is history. Social 
righteousness is as great a human cause, following the European 
War of 1914-1918, as slavery was during the Civil War, but it is 
doubtful if America has suffered enough in the great war to bring 
about a general atonement and appreciation of what is involved in 
the social reconstruction of Jesus. We shall probably have to suffer 
more before we will be sensitive to the will of Christ for the social 
order. There are men who argue now that questions involving 
profits, capital, labor, wealth, should not be discussed in the Associa- 
tion because it will "split the brotherhood." If Langdon had listened 
to what the men said about him in his day, he would have kept still, 
for it is evident that the position which he took and defended was 
violently assailed, as was he personally, but ultimately he changed 
the course of the whole movement. Langdon's exhilarating example 
is before the young and progressive leaders of our day. They have 
principles of greater importance even to fight for in the final redemp- 
tion of the Association Movement to the complete service of 
society. — R. E. L. 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 109 

were at the foot of the pulpit stair, I made nearly 
every other speech, contending for hours practically 
against the whole convention. I spoke with all the 
powers of my intellect, with all the energies of my 
soul. I was forced back step by step and hope by 
hope from the institution for which I had labored so 
long, which I loved so truly and for which I had ex- 
pected so much. 

"What this cost me, I am sure that many realized, 
for other voices than mine were choked in utterance. 
But my first allegiance was due to my Church. Even 
in the Association it was due to duty and truth. 
When, therefore, without a single dissentient voice 
save my own my resolutions were utterly rejected and 
one adopted declaring that the Associations 'should 
be ready to enter upon any work He shall open before 
us' I had but one thing to do. I had virtually been 
shut out." 

"The scene," said the Philadelphia Presbyterian, 
"was very affecting, nearly all the delegates being in 
tears at parting with their beloved leader." It is an 
interesting incident to which Richard C. Morse has 
called attention that Cephas Brainerd, who was later 
to lead the Associations back to their appropriate 
field of work for young men by young men, listened 
to this discussion and was the one to move that the 
debate be closed. 

We cannot sympathize with Langdon's fear that 
the Association would override or usurp the function 
of the Church, but history must without equivocation 
vindicate his position that it must have a limited 
specialized field if it is to prosper or prove its right 
to exist. Some statements in Langdon's resolutions 
might be pressed to mean that the Association should 
leave all religious meetings and religious instruction 
to be carried on by the churches, limiting the Asso- 
ciations to purely social activities. 



110 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

The Troy Convention marks the close of Langdon's 
brilliant, devoted, and almost passionate leadership 
of the American Association movement. For seven 
years, though a busy young man struggling to make 
his own way in the world, he had been the dominant 
personality, the original thinker, the creative and 
fearless spirit who gave direction and vision to the 
infant organization. At twenty-one he joined with 
two other young men in founding the Washington 
Association. He became its first corresponding sec- 
retary. In the same year he conceived the idea of 
confederating the American Associations. At twenty- 
three he succeeded in assembling the Buffalo Con- 
vention and in securing the passage of the resolutions 
establishing the Confederation. He was made general 
secretary of the first Central Committee. At twenty- 
four in his reports and official communications he for- 
mulated the policy of international supervision and 
secured the ratification of the Confederation by the 
local Associations. At twenty-five he became foreign 
secretary of the Central Committee. At twenty-six 
he toured at his own expense the Associations of 
Europe and developed the foreign policy of the Amer- 
ican Association. At twenty-eight at the Troy Con- 
vention he stood alone against the three hundred 
delegates, who under the spell of the great revival 
proposed to divert the Association from its distinctive 
field and make it practically a substitute for the 
Church. 

It is interesting that Langdon rendered all of this 
service as a volunteer and was never a salaried officer. 

At the Troy Convention Richard C. McCormick of 
New York succeeded Langdon as foreign secretary. 
The convention voted to transfer the headquarters of 
the Association to Richmond, Virginia, and to hold 
the convention for 1860 at New Orleans. 

In the meantime unobserved by the Central Com- 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 111 

mittee or any of the leaders there was taking place 
the beginnings of a movement which was destined to 
become one of the greatest religious influences in 
modern life. 



Sec. 44. — Student Associations 

One of the great movements inspired by the Young 
Men's Christian Association has been the organiza- 
tion and development of the religious life of students 
throughout the world. This result has been due to 
spontaneous effort among students as well as to con- 
tact with the Association. Such organizations as the 
"Society of Christian Brethren," founded at Harvard 
in 1802, and the various societies of religious inquiry 
were significant of the early religious interest among 
students. The greatest impetus was given by the 
missionary awakening at Williams College in 1806, 
which resulted in a student missionary society two 
years later and indirectly contributed to the founding 
of the Philadelphia Society at Princeton in 1825. 
("Student Young Men's Christian Association Move- 
ment of North America," Shedd, 1914, p. 28.) This 
organization at Princeton was later more influential 
in promoting the intercollegiate student Association 
movement than any of the small group of student 
organizations which prior to 1877 bore the name of 
or were recognized as Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciations. 

The earliest of these societies were organized in 
1858 at the Universities of Michigan and Virginia. 
It is an immensely interesting fact that they were in- 
spired by the great revival which was at that time 
stirring the religious life of the entire country. While 
the organization of these two student Associations 
did not lead immediately to a widespread movement 
among students, they are significant as pioneers and 



112 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

forerunners of one of the most fruitful religious 
movements of modern times. 

We will not enter into the discussion as to which 
society is entitled to be regarded as the founder of 
the student Association movement. It is doubtful if 
either deserves this honor. This matter is fully pre- 
sented by C. P. Shedd in his thesis on the student 
Young Men's Christian Association. It would be 
difficult to maintain that the student Association 
movement has ever been fully dominated by the 
Association or has ever accepted the full program of 
the modern Association. It has remained up to the 
present time the religious and missionary organiza- 
tion of the colleges analogous to the Williams and 
Princeton societies and has never taken control of or 
had the power to unify and manage the activities of 
undergraduate student life, as is done in the army 
huts for the soldiers or in the city Association for its 
members. The student Association has .never been 
able to dominate the leisure time of the- undergradu- 
ate or develop a program for the training of the whole 
man. This has been left to the university, and the 
student movement has usually confined itself to reli- 
gious work, though in many large institutions build- 
ings are maintained as social resorts. This speciali- 
zation on the religious life has made the student 
movement the most advanced in spiritual work of any 
group of Associations. 

When the revival of 1857-1858 was at its height in 
Philadelphia a union prayer meeting was carried on 
by the city Association at the University of Pennsyl- 
vania. The two institutions where the revival left 
the most permanent result were the state universities 
of Michigan and Virginia. 

In the winter of 1857 a marked religious interest 
arose among the students at Ann Arbor. During the 
Christmas holidays a daily prayer meeting was held 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 113 

in the room of one of the undergraduates which was 
attended by representatives of each of the four 
classes. One of these students who later became a 
member of the faculty was Adam K. Spence. His 
mother, Mrs. Elizabeth K. Spence, suggested to him 
the advisability of organizing a Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association among the students. Mrs. Spence 
gave the students an account of the work of this so- 
ciety and later wrote some verses which commemo- 
rated the new organization established at Ann Arbor. 
A committee of the students made a favorable report 
and the society was organized early in 1858. No 
written constitution prior to 1839 has been preserved 
and the organization, while commonly referred to as 
a Young Men's Christian Association, was named in 
the constitution the "Student Christian Association." 
Spence later became active in work among students 
and in 1868 at the International Convention at 
Detroit urged a resolution in favor of a movement to 
establish student Associations in all institutions of 
learning. This resolution failed of adoption, but by 
Professor Spence's effort a similar resolution was 
passed two years later at the convention at Indianap- 
olis. 

In the judgment of C. P. Shedd the organization 
at the University of Virginia more fully embodied 
the true conception of a college Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association than the Student Christian Associa- 
tion at Ann Arbor, though it is evident the Ann Arbor 
society has had a continuous existence since Febru- 
ary, 1858. 

Charlottesville, in the edge of the Blue Ridge range, 
which Poe romantically called the "ragged moun- 
tains of Virginia," had for over thirty years been the 
home of the most eastern and southern state univer- 
sity in America, founded on plans drawn by that ver- 
satile statesman, Thomas Jefferson. The. university 



114 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

was regarded as a godless institution by the more 
conservatively orthodox, but it had in its organiza- 
tions a spiritual leader of fine type and great influ- 
ence in the chaplain, Rev. Denby Carr Harrison, the 
forerunner of the brilliant group of college general 
secretaries who have served as Christian leaders of 
the modern undergraduate world. Shedd points 
out Harrison's share in establishing and promoting 
the Virginia organization. 

In the tide of the great revival a local Young Men's 
Christian Association was organized in Charlottes- 
ville. This is recorded in the Quarterly Reporter for 
April, 1858. Undoubtedly the organization of this 
Association in the little college town furnished the 
model for the university Association. The religious 
interest of the community spread to the university. 
Early in 1858 student meetings were held and Chris- 
tian students from the university were most earnest 
in fostering religious work in the rural regions in 
the vicinity. In fact, the religious destitution of the 
adjacent country was one of the leading motives for 
founding the university Association which in a short 
time was sending out regularly some fifty students to 
conduct religious services and lead Sunday schools. 

The Association at the University of Virginia was 
formally organized in October, 1858, by the adoption 
of a constitution which gave as its object (Shedd, p. 
62) "the improvement of the spiritual condition of 
the students and the extension of religious advan- 
tages to the destitute points in the neighborhood of 
the university." 

The story of the origin of this Association is thus 
told at length in the Young Men's Christian Journal 
for March, 1859 (p. 59) : 

"The wonderful outpouring of the Spirit of Grace 
during the past year did not, it seems, entirely fail of 
reviving influences in our midst. Towards the close 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 115 

of the last session, a decided increase in the religious 
interest at the university was manifested by the es- 
tablishment of a daily prayer meeting (which was 
kept up for some time), by renewed zeal on the part 
of many professing Christians, and a greater desire 
to advance the cause of Christ among us. At the 
same time, what had already attracted attention and 
elicited effort, viz., the religious destitution and com- 
parative spiritual as well as mental darkness prevail- 
ing in an adjoining section of the county, began to 
appeal more strongly to our hearts. The zeal thus 
quickened, the need thus felt, was doubtless, and, I 
may say, the occasion of the formation of the Chris- 
tian Association of the University. Initiatory steps 
to its formation were taken by several of the students, 
aided and directed by our earnest and devoted chap- 
lain, at the close of the last session, in the latter part 
of July, 1858. The Association has only this session 
been permanently organized, thus we have had but 
a short time to test our operations practically; but 
from present indications, we have every reason to be 
encouraged to persevere. Starting with between 
forty and fifty members, our number has increased, 
since the meeting in November, to nearly one hun- 
dred; among these we have earnest laborious Chris- 
tians, and our committee on religious meetings, etc., 
has found means of employing some of them as teach- 
ers for the Sunday school in the neighboring moun- 
tains, as conductors of religious exercises at the alms- 
house, and for the colored people of the university; 
while our standing committee, composed of members 
from the various boarding-houses connected with 
the university, affords opportunities which have been 
improved for the Christian activity of others in the 
exercise of personal influence, the distribution of 
tracts, collections for benevolent objects, and main- 
tenance of social prayer meetings at different points 



116 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

among the students. The good influence of these last 
has shown itself in very marked results. In some 
cases, deep interest has appeared, and personal atten- 
tion to religion among those hitherto unconcerned, 
and the hopeful conversion of several promising 
young men have gladdened our hearts. 

"Our committee on lectures and addresses have be- 
gun their work, and are exerting themselves to main- 
tain this interesting feature in our plan. 

"The regular meetings held on the first Monday of 
every month have been well attended; and with some 
sacrifice of time on the part of those conducting the 
business, good management, and judicious variety, 
they may continue to attract and interest. The meet- 
ings of the executive committee are held as occasion 
demands. This committee, elected at the regular 
meetings of the Association in October and Febru- 
ary, constitutes the official management of the so- 
ciety. 

"The distinctive principles your circular refers to, 
viz., Christian union and the recognition of individual 
Christian duty, we have all thus far been laboring 
harmoniously to advance, with some degree of suc- 
cess under the divine blessing. We would ask your 
cooperation as far as possible, your sympathy, and 
your prayers, that the divine favor may be vouch- 
safed to us in carrying on this work at so important a 
point with such great prospects for good." 

The Association at the University of Virginia ap- 
plied for admission to the Confederation and became 
a member in April, 1860. No student representative 
of any college association was present at any of the 
international conventions held during this period. 

The student associations at the Universities of 
Michigan and Virginia sprang up during the admin- 
istration of the third Central Committee located at 
Buffalo, but were not fostered by it in any special 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 117 

manner nor regarded as a distinct department of 
work. 

It is probable, however, but for the outbreak of 
the Civil War that the work among college students 
would have spread rapidly.* 

Sec. 45. — Administration of the Fourth Central 
Committee 

Richmond, July, 1859, to April, 1860 

The Richmond Central Committee followed in the 
footsteps of its predecessors. It published the Young 
Men's Christian Journal, promoted visitation and cor- 
respondence, and called what proved to be the last 
convention of the Confederation period at New Or- 
leans in April, 1860. 

Interest in the New Orleans Convention centers 
around the resolutions recommending physical train- 
ing and recreation as a part of the program of the 
Association. At New Orleans itself as early as 1854 
"healthful amusement" was conducted. At the Mont- 
real Convention, however, the resolutions proposed 
by Rhees of Washington favoring amusements and 
physical training had been laid on the tat>le. The 
Cincinnati Central Committee, in its report to the 
Richmond Convention in 1857, discounted secular 
agencies. In the same year, however, Henry W^ard 

* In historical fairness it must be pointed out that the American 
Associations, as contrasted with the European, have immensely 
benefited in leadership and breadth of view from the student branches 
and the infiltration of an educated leadership. The conservative 
element from time to time has produced a spokesman who feared 
the student branches and felt himself estranged at their progres- 
siveness. This has only served to illustrate their contribution to the 
progress of the whole movement in the United States, through the 
Student Volunteer Branch and the foreign service, and to the prog- 
ress of civilization in less-favored nations. 

The Kingdom of God on earth must be socially righteous; rich 
and poor in America must look to the educational centers for that 
combination of idealism and courage which will make the new day 
realizable. — R. E. L. 



118 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

Beecher, at the anniversary of the Boston Associa- 
tion, urged that both amusements and physical rec- 
reation be made a part of the Association's activities. 
The year following at the Second World's Confer- 
ence at Geneva, Switzerland, Dr. J. H. Gladstone of 
London advocated recreation and athletic sports. 

At the convention at New Orleans Leonard Chapin 
of the Charleston Association proposed the following 
resolutions, which on the recommendation of the 
Committee on Associations were unanimously 
adopted : 

"In view of the importance and necessity of a place 
of rational and innocent amusement and recreation 
for young men especially in large cities and towns, 
be it 

"Resolved, that the establishment of gymnasiums 
is both desirable and expedient, provided they be in 
all cases under the exclusive control of such Asso- 
ciations as may conclude to adopt this feature as a 
safeguard against the allurements of objectionable 
places of resort, which have proved the ruin of thou- 
sands of the youth of our country. 

"Resolved, that it be recommended to the Associa- 
tions to make their rooms as pleasant and attractive 
as possible and that to this end they be recommended 
wherever it is practicable to procure such scientific 
apparatus as will tend to instruct, amuse, and improve 
young men who may visit the rooms." 

These resolutions were carried and were the first 
acceptance by an American convention of physical 
education and recreation as a part of the program of 
the Young Men's Christian Association. 

While these resolutions failed to recommend in- 
door games, as there was much opposition from many 
quarters, they signify a remarkable advance in the 
direction of promoting the club life of the Associa- 
tion and increasing its attractiveness as a resort. 



LATER ADMINISTRATIONS 119 

The New Orleans Convention voted to transfer the 
headquarters of the Association to Philadelphia. 
George H. Stuart was appointed chairman and John 
Wanamaker became one of the active leaders. It 
was fortunate that the machinery for supervision was 
located in a Northern city, as the outbreak of the 
Civil War practically effaced the Associations of the 
South and destroyed the leadership they were exer- 
cising in the Confederation. The convention called 
for St. Louis for 1861 was never held, but Stuart 
called a special convention in November in New 
York City which inaugurated the United States Chris- 
tian Commission, the first organized effort to provide 
both spiritual and temporal opportunities for men 
under arms. The Philadelphia Committee continued 
in authority throughout the Civil War and until the 
Albany Convention of 1866, when the Central Com- 
mittee was located, as it proved, permanently, in New 
York City. 



CHAPTER V 

INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 

We pass now to consider the foreign relations of 
the American Associations and will sketch rapidly 
the contacts between the American Associations and 
those abroad. 

It was during the years of the Confederation that 
the foundations of an effective foreign policy were 
laid. It was to London that the American Associa- 
tions looked back with filial affection. Interest in the 
movement on the continent of Europe also developed 
with acquaintance. "Likeness of kind" was a social 
force which drew these scattered societies together 
with an irresistible spiritual attraction. 

The Boston society had originated the idea of ap- 
pointing a corresponding secretary. The early As- 
sociations followed this example. The first Central 
Committee appointed a general secretary whose func- 
tion after the first year was divided into two — one for 
home and the other for foreign correspondence. 
These arrangements did much to promote interrela- 
tions. The office of corresponding secretary led its 
incumbent to look beyond his local field. This de- 
veloped a number of important leaders. Langdon re- 
ceived his first training as corresponding secretary of 
the local Association at Washington. It was this posi- 
tion which led him to found the international work 
on this continent and to become interested in the 
Associations abroad. Robert McCartee and Richard 
C. McCormick each served the New York Associa- 
tion as corresponding secretary. They were the most 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 121 

active of the members of the New York society in 
general affairs. McCormick made a tour of the 
American Associations in which he visited more local 
societies than any other leader. He was also the first 
American to make a tour of the Associations of 
Europe. 

The Central Committee followed the practice of 
the local Associations and appointed a corresponding 
secretary. The men who served in this capacity were 
Langdon, Rhees, NefT, Lowry, and McCormick. 
These were the men who developed the foreign rela- 
tions of the American Associations. They created a 
genuine foreign policy which has come to be one of 
the largest factors in the American work. This policy 
was one of frequent cordial intercourse. It resulted, 
on the one hand, in America's learning and appro- 
priating much of value from foreign Associations and, 
on the other hand, in stimulating the American As- 
sociations later to promote the movement throughout 
the world. It delivered the Associations from paro- 
chialism and led them to become international in 
spirit. The intercourse of this period consisted of 
correspondence, exchange of publications, intervisi- 
tation, and the granting of travelers' membership 
tickets to Americans traveling abroad. The inter- 
visitation was by delegates to conventions and anni- 
versaries and through tours by leading representa- 
tives. 

The British leaders who were especially influential 
in America were Dr. T. H. Gladstone and Dr. William 
Arthur, both of the London Association. Doctor 
Gladstone spent a number of months with the Ameri- 
can Associations and was one of the speakers at the 
Montreal Convention in 1856. 

Leaders from North America were present at the 
World's Conventions in 1855 and at Geneva in 1858; 
also at many anniversaries of the London Associa- 



122 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

tion and at the first British Convention at Leeds in 
1858. 

Some of the Irish and English Associations also 
undertook to introduce members who were migrat- 
ing to America to the Associations of New York and 
other cities. 

The chief influences from abroad were from the 
London Association and the Paris Convention 
(1855). The many American visitors to the London 
Association received the most cordial greetings from 
T. H. Tarlton, the honorary secretary, and his assist- 
ant and successor, W. E. Shipton. They brought 
home ideas of the need of well-equipped rooms, of 
employed officers, and of classes for Bible study. 
From the Paris Convention arid the letters of J. Paul 
Cook, then president of the Paris Association, the 
American Associations received the "Paris Basis," 
which has had a strong influence in making the Amer- 
ican Associations conservatively evangelical. Con- 
tact with the British Associations helped to recall the 
American Associations to their distinctive field of 
work for young men. The American Association 
leaders did much to encourage the European Asso- 
ciations, particularly the smaller ones on the conti- 
nent. They also promoted an international system' of 
correspondence and through the establishment of an 
annual convention and Central Committee at home 
encouraged similar efforts both in Great Britain and 
on the continent of Europe. 

The foreign relations of this period may be divided 
into: 1, activities before Langdon's tour in 1857; 2, 
Langdon's European tour of that year; 3, activities 
following his tour, 1857-1860. 

Sec. 46. — Foreign Relations Previous to 1857 
It was the visits to London of Van Derlip, Petrie, 
and Duncan which led directly or indirectly to the 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 123 

founding of the Associations at Boston, New York, 
and Washington. 

In 1853 Dr. Alexander H. Vinton, bearing creden- 
tials from the Boston Association, was the guest of 
the London Association at its ninth anniversary. He 
brought greetings from America and reported the 
founding of Associations on this continent. Other 
accredited representatives from Boston visited Lon- 
don that year and Rev. C. M. Butler, D. D., of Wash- 
ington, afterwards of Cincinnati, was also a guest. 
(First Washington Report, 1854, p. 20.) 

Doctor Butler in his report to the Washington As- 
sociation said: "I attended the Bible class which was 
held at the rooms of the Association on Sunday after- 
noon. . . . This is one of the largest of six classes of 
a similar kind which are held in London. On enter- 
ing the room, I found myself in the presence of about 
one hundred young men and some of middle age who 
joined in prayer and singing under the lead of one of 
their number. The class was conducted by a layman, 
a zealous member of the Association, who, upon the 
portion of Scripture appointed for their study, asked 
questions, gave explanations, and guided all the com- 
mentaries of others and of himself into the most 
practical experimental and spiritual subjects. It was 
the most interesting, animated, devotional, and warm- 
ing religious service which I attended in England. 
Great good has been effected by these classes, espe- 
cially in the more business parts of London. It may 
be well for our Associations to inquire whether the 
same mode of operation may properly be introduced 
in Washington. . . . Immediately after the service a 
cup of tea and bread was handed round and an hour 
spent in a manner altogether suitable to the day. I 
observed some studying the Scripture appointed for 
the following Sunday and some conversing with great 



124 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

earnestness with those who were endeavoring to lead 
them to the Saviour of the World." 

Langdon became corresponding secretary for the 
Washington Association in 1852. At the end of his 
year of service he made to the Washington Asso- 
ciation the most extended report of Associations 
throughout the world which had then been prepared. 
It covers thirty-eight printed pages, eighteen pages of 
which are given to the Associations of Great Britain 
and the continent. 

Pastor Diirselen of Ronsdorf, the president of the 
earliest Association Alliance in the Rhenish and 
Westphalian provinces, gives an extended account of 
the workings of this Alliance, and writing to Lang- 
don in March, 1854, he says: "We have found that 
the forming of the union's into an Alliance . . . has 
contributed essentially to give strength and vitality 
to the cause of the unions. We would, therefore, sug- 
gest that your Associations also form themselves into 
an American Alliance. In that event it would give 
us great pleasure if the American Alliance would 
enter into an intimate and fraternal communion with 
our own." This suggestion encouraged Langdon to 
promote the American Confederation which for 
nearly two years he had been advocating. In Lang- 
don's report to the Washington Association is an in- 
teresting account of a small Association among theo- 
logical students at Montauban, which plainly contains 
the germ of the "Paris -Basis" adopted in 1855 at the 
First World's Convention. (First Washington Re- 
port, 1854, pp. 33-34.) This report states, January 
18, 1854: "It is not without a lively joy that we have 
received and read your circular dated in the month 
of November, 1853. . . . We have neither library nor 
reading room nor religious journals at our disposal. 
. . . Every week we meet together to read and medi- 
tate on the word of God and there is at the close re- 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 125 

ligious conversation upon the chapter which has been 
read. . . . Our Association is composed of theologi- 
cal students. . . . Our Union was established at 
Montauban in the month of November, 1852. . . . 
We have at this time fourteen members. . . . We 
give the two principal rules. . . . The improvement 
of the members which compose it and the evangeliza- 
tion in general. 'All young men are received as mem- 
bers of the Union who accept Jesus Christ as their 
Saviour and their God, according to the Scriptures 
and who through the influence of the Holy Spirit, feel 
themselves called to work for the advancement of his 
Kingdom.' ' It is interesting that this little group 
of obscure theological students should have practi- 
cally formulated the doctrinal phrases of the Paris 
Basis, often called the Apostles' Creed of the Asso- 
ciations of the World. 

Dr. Howard Crosby, president of the New York 
Association, in his report for 1855 says (Third Annual 
Report, New York, 1855, pp. 10-11): 

''Early last year Richard C. McCormick, Jr., was 
appointed a delegate of the Associations to visit the 
Associations of Europe to bear our greetings to them 
and to report to us their condition and prospects. . . . 
He has visited the Associations of London, Liverpool, 
Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Greenock, Bel- 
fast, Dublin, Limerick, and Cork, with various others 
in Great Britain and Ireland, also those of Paris, 
Genoa, and Turin. The most cordial welcome has 
been extended to him and many of the Associations 
have passed resolutions thanking our Association for 
appointing a delegate and complimenting our dele- 
gate on his interest in the progress of the good work 
among young men. At every point it has been in- 
sisted that Mr. McCormick should afford all the in- 
formation possible concerning the rise and progress 
of the Young Men's Christian Association of the 



126 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

United States and the details have been listened to 
by thousands with the utmost delight. 

"The young men of Europe engaged in the all im- 
portant work of guarding the spiritual welfare of their 
fellow beings are anxious to become familiar with the 
movement of their American brethren and let us hope 
that the happy visit of our delegate may tend to 
strengthen the ties of our sympathy and love for our 
Christian friends in the Old World." 

McCormick made an extended report of his trip 
with suggestions to the New York Association. He 
urged lecture courses, especially informal lectures to 
groups of young men at the rooms. He also advo- 
cated Bible classes on the London model, more social 
life, evening classes, and less constitutional machin- 
ery. He laid particular emphasis on the deeper 
spiritual character of the European Associations 
and urged the New York Association to establish 
branches in different parts of the city after the exam- 
ple of the London Association. 

One of the most far-reaching influences upon the 
American Associations from abroad came from the 
Paris Convention. The two features of this conven- 
tion which influenced America were the plan of cor- 
respondence and the statement of faith and object 
known as the Paris Basis. 

Langdon prepared for this convention as able a re- 
port as he ever wrote. His study of the then existing 
Associations had made him better acquainted with 
the character and extent of the organization than any 
other man in the Association world. In his letters to 
leaders both at home and abroad he had persistently 
urged the establishment of a systematic plan of cor- 
respondence. (Note — This plan is described in Vol. 
I, pp. 168-179.) The operating of this plan during 
the years of the Confederation period disseminated 
information regarding the Association, gradually in- 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 127 

spired a spirit of comradeship, and as time went on 
promoted a conscious world unity among the Asso- 
ciations. This has been greatly fostered by world 
conventions, intervisitation, the Paris Basis, and later 
in 1878 by the establishment of the World's Commit- 
tee at Geneva, Switzerland. 

The Young Men's Christian Association was the 
first Protestant international agency on a large scale 
in any way comparable to the Catholic Church.* The 
churches, except the Roman, are for the most part 
either racial or national in character. Their interna- 
tional activities are nearly all of a missionary nature. 
The Association admits all national committees of 
all countries into a league of nations on an equal basis 
and aims at real self-determination on the part of 
each national committee and local Association. 

The American Associations of the Confederation 
period accepted the Paris Basis. This was done at 
the Cincinnati Convention in September, 1855, one 
month following the assembly at Paris. Neff of 
Cincinnati (Cincinnati Convention Report, 1855, p. 
48) introduced the following resolution, which was 
adopted: "Resolved, that this convention as the 
representative of the Confederated Associations of 
the United States and British Provinces does cor- 
dially approve and hereby ratify the resolutions of 
confederation and correspondence submitted by the 
conference of Christian Associations lately assembled 
at Paris and that the Central Committee be author- 
ized to take the requisite steps to carry the same into 
effect." A reservation was added that any local As- 
sociation at any time might withdraw from the World 
Alliance should it so desire. This was done to guard 
in every way the autonomy and independence of the 
local Associations. 

* Without, it should be said, any sacerdotal similitude nor ecclesi- 
astical assumption. — R. E. L. 



128 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

The report of the Paris Convention covering 125 
pages was published in English and circulated among 
the American Associations. This report contained 
Langdon's extended study of the American Associa- 
tions. It gave the American leaders a clearer idea of 
the European movement. It undoubtedly strength- 
ened their conservative evangelical attitude by pro- 
mulgating the Paris Basis and revealing the doctrinal 
teaching of the European Associations. 

At the Paris Convention Shipton of London and 
others (First World's Convention Report, Paris, 
1855, p. 8) remarked, "That it is desirable to have as 
little distinction of class or creed" as practicable. The 
Utrecht Student Association of Holland reported, 
"No confession of faith is imposed on our members/' 

The Association for Amsterdam, however, required 
a personal test which introduced theological dissen- 
sion. Active members were expected to accept the 
following statement of faith (First World's Con- 
vention, Paris, 1855, p. 51): "We acknowledge that 
inasmuch as we are lost sinners, deprived of the glory 
of God, we owe the salvation of our souls only to the 
work of the Son of God, through faith in His blood. 
We desire while renouncing impiety and worldly pas- 
sions by the strength of the Holy Spirit to live so- 
berly, righteously, and godly in this present world, 
while expecting the blessed hope and the glorious ap- 
pearance of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus 
Christ." 

This society reports some internal dissension and 
states : "A liberal tendency (that is to say, the tend- 
ency of the latitudinarian or heterodox party) 
struggled against the committee which had proposed 
the adherence of the active members to the above 
profession of faith." The Central Committee at Am- 
sterdam were authorized to pass on the regularity of 
local Associations. This brought some difficulties at 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 129 

Haarlem. Regarding this Association the report 
states (p. 52) : "When the spirit of liberalism ap- 
peared and caused trouble the Committee of the Alli- 
ance interfered but its counsels were despised. It 
was, therefore, obliged to exclude the Haarlem Union 
from the Alliance, in order to reconstitute it upon an 
entirely evangelical basis." 

This was the method used to enforce evangelical 
orthodoxy. 

The French and particularly the Swiss delegates 
maintained a sharply defined, positive position on the 
deity of Jesus. Max Perrot, president of the Geneva 
Association, in his address at the Paris Convention 
said (First World's Convention Report, Paris, 1855, 
p. 6): 

"Working among young men taught by an Arian 
Catechism and brought up in the midst of rational- 
ism, we are constrained frequently to controversies 
on questions of doctrine. We suffer in consequence 
under the reproach of dogmatic exclusiveness. We 
desire, my friends, to impose no articles of faith which 
the word of God does not enjoin, but whilst we de- 
sire to unite all who love the Lord Jesus, we cannot 
admit those who deny his proper divinity. Hence, 
we are brought into perpetual collisions with pastors 
and catechumens. 

"Since Romanism has made some progress many 
have been impelled to a closer study of Protestant 
doctrines. This has brought many young men 
amongst us serious and strongly opposed to popery, 
but unfixed and speculative in their views. They say 
they believe in Christ and desire to unite with us on 
the ground of Christian life. But the divinity of 
Christ with them no longer means the same thing. 
They admit that Christ is a divine being but not 'God 
manifest in the flesh.' W r e feel there is no course open 
to us but to refuse a Christianity like this although 



130 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

as a consequence we are accused of a severe dogmatic 
character and have to see another Association formed 
in opposition to our own. My friends, there is no 
Christianity which denies that Christ is God. And 
at Geneva more than anywhere else it is incumbent 
upon us to maintain our basis intact and to proclaim 
the eternal divinity of the Son of God, our Saviour." 

Pastor Monod, also of Geneva, at a later session 
took the same position. 

The delegates from Geneva also urged that the 
Paris Basis* contain an "explicit declaration of the 
divine inspiration of the Scriptures." The convention 
decided "that the theological truth of inspiration . . . 
should not be imposed as an absolute condition of ad- 
mission to the Association because it is a question the 
solution of which demands not so much piety as 
study. More must not be required than God Himself 
requires. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ as his 
God and Saviour, according to His Holy Scriptures, 
will be received into the Kingdom of Heaven, and 
whoever will be received into Heaven ought not to 
be refused admission into our Association."t (First 
World's Convention Report, Paris, 1855, p. 24.) 

The Geneva and French Associations stood for a 
narrow conservative orthodoxy more strenuously 
than any of the other European societies and pro- 
foundly influenced the whole Association. 

* The author's attention has been called by W. H. Underwood of 
the World's Committee staff to the inaccuracy of the translation of 
the Paris Basis invariably used in American and English versions. 
The word "doctrine" {doctrine) in the original draft of the Com- 
mittee was struck out by the convention and for it was substituted 
the word "faith" (foi). This is always found in the French reports 
and certainly gives a more spiritual and less theological quality to 
the Basis. 

t How narrowly good men escape in their solemn affirmations 
from making their organizations of Christians more exclusive by far 
than Jesus made the Kingdom of God, and by what difference of 
measure. — R. E. L. 







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THE PARIS BASIS AS FINALLY ADOPTED 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 131 

The German Associations, which were more nu- 
merous than any others on the continent, maintained 
the Christian character of their Associations by ap- 
pointing as officers men of recognized religious ear- 
nestness. They admitted all young men as members 
who were interested in the objects of the Associa- 
tions. In practice this resulted in only young men 
who were members of the Lutheran Church uniting 
with the Association. 

The American Associations were delivered from 
much theological difficulty by the plan of a Church 
test rather than a personal test for active member- 
ship. This plan leaves all doctrinal questions to be 
determined by the Church. However, by excluding 
Unitarians and Universalists they fostered a narrow 
spirit which still hampers the movement and which 
introduced theological bitterness — the very thing 
which the church test was expected to eliminate and 
which a personal test is calculated to promote. 

The Paris Basis was approved by the American 
Convention as a general statement of evangelical be- 
lief and as a satisfactory statement of the aim of the 
Associations to unite Christian young men for the ad- 
vancement of Christ's Kingdom among their fellow 
young men. This basis has, however, never been 
adopted in North America as a part of the constitu- 
tion of local Associations nor has personal assent to 
it been required of individual members as in Europe. 

The defining of the field of the Association as work 
for young men had a steadying influence upon the 
American movement, but this action of the conven- 
tion was forgotten when the evangelistic revival a 
few years later absorbed the energies of the Ameri- 
can Associations and led them to undertake, in the 
language of Langdon, "the general propagation of 
the Gospel." 

The Cincinnati Convention had its attention fur- 



132 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

ther directed to Associations abroad by the presence 
of Rev. Wm. Arthur, D. D., one of the vice-presidents 
of the London Association, who addressed the con- 
vention on the work in Great Britain. Doctor Ar- 
thur had been one of the earnest supporters of the 
London Association. He attended the first public 
meeting of that Association in November, 1844. At 
that meeting he supported the first resolution endors- 
ing the Association. Doctor Arthur became a vice- 
president of the London society in 1845 and con- 
tinued a number of years in that relation. He was 
also one of the lecturers in the well-known Exeter 
Hall Lecture Course. 

The Quarterly Reporter, established by the Second 
Central Committee of Cincinnati, published copious 
reports of the Associations in Europe. These articles 
took the form of accounts of local work, the reviews 
of anniversary addresses, and full reports of conven- 
tions. 

The most extended influence exerted by any indi- 
vidual from abroad was by Dr. Thomas H. Gladstone, 
honorary secretary of the Borough Branch, London. 
Doctor Gladstone was one of the British delegates to 
the Paris Convention, where he served as an inter- 
preter. He also reported the work of the British As- 
sociations. In 1856 Doctor Gladstone visited North 
America and was present at the third American Con- 
vention held in Montreal. Here he met Langdon and 
Neff, prior to their visit to the Associations of 
Europe. 

Doctor Gladstone on his return addressed the Lon- 
don Association at its twelfth anniversary exercises 
February, 1857, at Exeter Hall. In his address he 
said (Young Meris Magazine, May, 1857, p. 25): 
"Wherever he met with Associations of Christian 
young men he presented those messages of Christian 
affection with which he had been entrusted. . . . He 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 133 

found Associations existing in every principal town 
and city in the Union and in Canada. They had been 
very rapidly increasing and might now be regarded 
as one of the social and religious institutions of the 
country. In their internal operations they followed 
very much the system of the English Associations but 
they were characterized by a peculiar practicalness 
of endeavor somewhat accordant with the character 
of the people. They had developed more of the secu- 
lar element than in England. Every active young 
man found himself on one of the numerous commit- 
tees and bound to do the work allotted to him." 

George Petrie, the founder of the New York Asso- 
ciation, while unable to attend the Montreal Conven- 
tion, brought to the Central Committee from London 
100 copies of the journal of the Paris Convention. 
The Montreal Convention approved the plan for a 
certificate in English and French to be issued to mem- 
bers traveling abroad. The convention also voted to 
appoint a delegation to visit Associations abroad and 
carry to them the greetings of the American Asso- 
ciations. Langdon of Washington and Capt. W. H. 
Noble, R. E., of Kingston, Ontario, were appointed 
on this delegation. Captain Noble's assignment to 
duty in England only permitted his visiting the Lon- 
don Association. 



Sec. 47. — Langdon's European Tour, 1857 

Langdon had for some time been contemplating a 
trip abroad and therefore accepted the appointment 
of the convention. 

The year 1856, when he was twenty-five years old, 
was the turning point in Langdon's career. Four 
months before the Montreal Convention, on May 25, 
he had decided to give up his promising business op- 
portunities and devote himself to the ministry in the 



134 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

Episcopal Church. In his personal reminiscences he 
says ("The Story of My Early Life," p. 115): "I 
arrived at this decision distinctly on these grounds — 
that experience had already shown me clearly that 
God had graciously endowed me with some excep- 
tional powers and ability and with large capacities of 
usefulness; that the noblest sphere for the employ- 
ment of such powers was in His direct service; that 
such powers were needed in the Church and that, 
therefore, I dared not reserve for my self-service any 
such powers and capacities of His gift. The question 
was not raised whether the Church wanted as well 
as needed these capacities or whether the Church 
would afford me the opportunity of rendering these 
services for which I was willing to give up those of 
which the world had already put me in possession. 
This was taken for granted." 

In a letter to the Central Committee (Quarterly Re- 
porter, 1857) Langdon gave notice of his departure. 
He wrote : "At last God, in His good providence, per- 
mits me to fulfill the trust committed to me, in part, 
by my brethren of the Montreal Convention, of visit- 
ing in the name of our Confederated Associations the 
Christian Unions of Europe and I will sail from New 
York for that purpose on the 3rd prox. I have al- 
ways and devotedly believed that through the instru- 
mentality of our institution our Almighty King is not 
only arousing the lay energies of the churches and 
bearing the controlling influences of religious princi- 
ple into the mart, the mine, and the manufactory but 
that He is also heralding in the day for which our 
Saviour prayed — the day of Christian unity — close 
upon whose advent is promised the recognition by 
the world of our Redeemer's mission. On the fur- 
therance and on the strengthening of our influence 
such intercourse as is opened by the visits of our dear 
brother Gladstone and others to our midst and those 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 135 

of our own members abroad cannot be without great 
effect. " ("Early Story of the Confederation," Year 
Book, 1888, pp. 50-53.) 

During the six months of his stay in Europe Lang- 
don was indefatigable in his visitation of the Asso- 
ciations. Upon his arrival in London he was wel- 
comed at a meeting of the Association committee. 
He attended the Sunday afternoon Bible class and a 
devotional meeting. The London Central Associa- 
tion was already established in its newly equipped 
building in Aldersgate Street. 

In France Langdon attended a meeting of the na- 
tional committee and became well acquainted with 
members of the Associations at Paris and Nimes. 
He also visited the Association at Marseilles. Then 
he went to Germany. Here the Associations were 
grouped under provincial central committees but 
there was as yet no national organization. Langdon 
spent an evening at Berlin with Pastor Hofmeyer, the 
president of that Association, and attended a large 
gathering of the members. At Berlin the American 
minister invited a group of gentlemen to meet Lang- 
don at dinner. Among them was Peter Bayne, editor 
of the Edinburgh Witness, who was an eminent liter- 
ary man. Langdon recounts that he was seated near 
Bayne at table. They conversed on the outlook for 
Christian work and Langdon after dinner went to 
Bayne's apartments, where the conversation was con- 
tinued until late into the night. Bayne was seeking 
material for an article regarding the American Con- 
federation, which later appeared in the Witness. This 
article was copied by both the American and the Brit- 
ish national organs. {Quarterly Reporter, July, 1858, 
p. 77.) Bayne spoke of the Associations as establish- 
ing "a Christian free masonry over Great Britain, 
America, and the Continent." He particularly advo- 
cated the American plan of an alliance and an execu- 



136 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

tive committee and suggested that it might be ex- 
tended to Europe. 

This article, reinforced by Langdon's addresses and 
conferences, led the British Associations to call their 
first convention at Leeds in 1858. 

Langdon also visited the Associations at Leipzig, 
Frankfort, and Heidelberg. He then went to Rons- 
dorf to visit Pastor Diirselen, the chief advocate of 
the Association cause in Germany. Pastor Diirselen 
led in establishing the first provincial committee ever 
organized. This was the Westphalishe Bund at El- 
berfeld in 1848, which embraced 130 Associations 
with 6,000 members. He became president of this 
union and continued in its service for twenty-five 
years. He also edited for many years the Young 
Men 's Messenger, the first Association magazine. 

It was meeting men who were rendering continu- 
ous service like this which led Langdon to oppose the 
practice in America of frequent rotation in office. 

At Amsterdam Langdon says : "I attended meet- 
ings both of the main society and of a branch among 
working men, in company with Messrs. Bruyn and 
Heyblom. In Geneva I was most warmly received. 
An excursion was made for me to Mt. Saleve where 
I addressed a meeting of some forty members, going 
on from thence to Lausanne, to do the same with 
Messrs. Dunant, Cuenod, and Renevier." 

In May Langdon returned to Great Britain in time 
to attend the thirteenth annual breakfast of the Lon- 
don society. It was with evident emotion that Lang- 
don addressed this gathering of the parent Associa- 
tion and his remarks were received with frequent 
applause. He brought official greetings from the 
American Confederation and gratefully acknowl- 
edged the debt of the American Associations to the 
parent society. He also advocated the federation of 
British Associations into a national union. 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 137 

Langdon again uttered the deepest desire of his 
heart for Christian unity — the work to which he was 
to devote in the face of the most baffling obstacles 
the remainder of his life. He said (Young Men's 
Magazine, July, 1857, p. 132), "I come representing 
a principle which is strong among us, the principle of 
united love and united labor, the spirit which seeks 
to bring together in intercourse and in feeling the 
Christian community which is arising throughout 
Christendom to' bind us together with links more 
strong than iron, that the day may yet come, by this 
feeble instrumentality, the day which our Saviour's 
prophetic prayer has taught us to expect when all the 
world shall be one and the Church shall be one, and 
the world shall know that God hath sent Him." 

Shipton now arranged for Langdon a tour of the 
British Associations. This Langdon describes as fol- 
lows ("Early Story of the Confederation," Year 
Book, 1888, p. 51) : "Beginning with Oxford, I visited 
Warwick and Leamington on my way north. I ad- 
dressed a meeting of the Association and attended a 
breakfast with which I was honored in Edinburgh. 
From thence I went to Glasgow and Belfast. From 
this point, I attended and addressed a meeting of the 
society called to welcome me on every evening until 
I sailed — in Belfast, in Dublin, in Chester, in Man- 
chester, and in Liverpool. At every one of these — 
but perhaps especially in Edinburgh, in Chester, and 
in Liverpool — was the greatest interest shown in the 
story and in the details of the working of our general 
organization and the purpose expressed to aim at 
some similar plan for their own Associations." 

At every point visited Langdon urged the carrying 
on of the plan of correspondence adopted by the Paris 
Convention. 

Return to America naturally placed Langdon some- 
what in the relationship of a critic toward the Ameri- 



138 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

can Associations. He was without exception better 
acquainted with their general affairs than any other 
man in the Association world. Entering the ministry 
would have added to his prestige as an Association 
leader on the continent of Europe. Pastor Paul Cook 
was the founder and leading spirit in the Association 
work in France. Pastor Diirselen, president of the 
Westphalian Union, was the main supporter of the 
work throughout Germany, and Pastor Cuenod held 
a similar relationship to the Associations of Switzer- 
land. But in England the Earl of Shaftesbury, George 
Hitchcock, George Williams, Samuel Morley, and 
R. C. L. Bevan were all laymen, chiefly in mercan- 
tile pursuits. The secretaries, T. H. Tarlton and 
W. E. Shipton, were laymen. This was equally true 
in America. The ministers supported and cooperated 
with the Association, but its leadership was in the 
hands of laymen. Entering the ministry would 
doubtless have diverted Langdon from official lead- 
ership in the American Association movement had 
he remained in this country, but his views, so diverse 
from those held by the new leaders of the Association 
cause, made his retirement almost inevitable. The 
great revival immediately following Langdon's re- 
turn from Europe plunged the Association into new 
activities and brought in as with a flood a multitude 
of new Associations and new officers who were un- 
acquainted with the policies and principles of the 
organization which Langdon and Rhees, Neff and 
Lowry, and others had reared with so much pains 
and careful effort.* 

* The lack of lay leadership on the Continent no doubt accounts 
for the peculiarly ministerial and ofttimes doctrinal aspects of the 
continental Associations ; for their lack of adequate means ; and for 
their unimportant contribution to the extension of the movement in 
less-favored lands, as well as their slight influence only on the 
development of the ideals of the American Associations. Europe 
has influenced America in many ways, but not appreciably in this. 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 139 

Langdon's growing interest in the Church had led 
him to meditate on the true sphere of the Young 
Men's Christian Association and its right relation to 
the Church. He saw clearly that it could only sur- 
vive as a direct agency of the Church, subordinate to 
it in its policies. He recognized also that it must 
have, as he found it had in Europe, a clearly defined 
field of its own which did not usurp any functions of 
the Church or seriously duplicate other agencies. He 
determined, with all his love for the organization, 
with all his intellect and energy, to oppose these tend- 
encies. 

It was in his report regarding the London Asso- 
ciation that Langdon pointed out the need of a clearly 
defined field and also used the expression which 
aroused so much opposition "That the Young Men's 
Christian Association is not an institution for the gen- 
eral promulgation of the Gospel but an institution to 
fit young men to be 'in the sphere of their daily call- 
ing' efficient supporters and members of the institu- 
tion which was divinely appointed for that work."* 

It was inevitable that a break would come between 
Langdon and the evangelistic laymen now in charge 

With increasing numbers and rising power, the American Associa- 
tions, as contrasted with the continental European, have been a 
favored philanthropy of manufacturers, merchants, and professional 
and mercantile rich not of any occupation but of many. The Asso- 
ciation has been a sort of inter-class objective for the philanthropy 
of the privileged leaders, and its rank and file has been made up of 
young fellows of almost every class, with the exception of industrial 
workers. The participation of manual workers in a continental 
organization such as this, is one of the problems of the future and 
depends upon what attitude the Association takes upon questions of 
social righteousness. — R. E. L. 

* With, of course, the exception of Sir George Williams, the Brit- 
ish Associations probably will make no more lasting contribution 
to the American Association polity than they made through our own 
Langdon who, although at first defeated in our conventions, later 
saw the British position accepted and his prophetic leadership 
honored. — R. E. L. 



140 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

of the destinies of the American Associations. In his 
first letter to the Quarterly Reporter after his return 
from Europe {Quarterly Reporter, July, 1857, pp. 52- 
53) Langdon shows a deeper conviction than ever of 
the importance of the Confederation. He says, "I 
have been confirmed in my belief that the strength, 
spirituality, and usefulness of our Association is, cet- 
eris paribus, in proportion to their intercourse and 
sympathy with each other." 

He then pointed out some of the weaknesses of 
the American movement, saying, "Excessive freedom 
in the admission of members (making our societies 
conspicuous for lack of spirituality far beyond any of 
those of the Old World), the uncertain and short 
tenure of office among our office bearers, and the in- 
definiteness of aims and object so prevalent among 
us are three great practical evils which lie heavily 
upon the American Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion and which deserve both our prayerful considera- 
tion and remedial action." 

Langdon dwelt further upon these limitations in 
his later report and particularly upon the lesser spirit- 
ual quality of the American Associations. He says, 
"Let us confess it with shame, there is less spirituality 
and more of a worldly speculative business — nay, I 
may add vainglorious — spirit about the American 
than any similar unions in the world." He attributed 
this to our carelessness in admitting to control men 
lacking in spiritual character. He said, "I pray for 
the day . . . when we shall with the care which 
characterizes our French brethren, welcome within 
the active membership, and invest with the control 
of our Association, only those very few whose spirit- 
ual character will add new light to the beacon which 
we are trying to set up." 

Langdon approved of the social service and wel- 
fare work of the Association, but he never studied its 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 141 

relation to religious life, and while he welcomed the 
spiritual interest created by the revival he was 
alarmed at its diverting the Associations from their 
true field of effort and leading many to regard them 
as a substitute for the Church. 

Some serious weaknesses which he condemned 
were the hasty method of organization, the frequent 
rotation of officers, and the migratory plan which 
shifted the Central Committee from place to place. 
This latter was inaugurated by Langdon himself, but 
it proved a serious handicap on the work of super- 
vision all through the days of the Confederation. It 
may be said that it was not until the International 
Committee became permanently established in New 
York City in 1866 that the American Associations 
were on a stable basis. 

Langdon concluded his report of the foreign Asso- 
ciations in a memorable statement published in the 
Young Men's Christian Journal, February, 1859. In 
this he points out that the different characteristics of 
the British and French societies are due to the en- 
vironments surrounding them and the type of people 
of which they are composed. Certainly we expect a 
different result in a Roman Catholic community un- 
friendly to the Associations from that in a Protestant 
community where the Association is an expression 
of the dominant life and spirit of the Church. 

Sec. 48. — Foreign Relations, 1858 to 1861 

The foreign policy of the American Associations 
during the years following Langdon's tour was a con- 
tinuation and development of that already begun. It 
consisted of exchanging information through printed 
matter and correspondence, of intervisitation and the 
issuing of travelers' certificates. 

This policy was steadily building up a world con- 



142 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

sciousness in the Association movement. It appealed 
powerfully to the romantic imagination of Christian 
young men. Later the spiritual conquest of the 
world took on the nature of a quest worthy of the 
soul's devotion of the noblest modern Christian 
knight. It was natural that the American Associa- 
tions should turn with more interest to Europe than 
the European Associations did to America. Tradi- 
tion, ancestral customs, and the springs of culture 
were all in the Old World. There is a latent affec- 
tion among Americans for the land of their origin 
which few leaders outside of Christian circles have 
ever known How to arouse. Politics and business 
often stifle this sentiment in competition and rivalry. 
The religious spirit manifested in conventions and 
international organizations is the greatest power in 
overcoming racial and national barriers and prepar- 
ing men for the federation of the world. 

No European delegate' was present at any of the 
later conventions of the Confederation. Both Neff 
and Lowry of Cincinnati made visits to Europe. Neff 
attended the convention of the Holland Associations 
in 1859. Ex-President Pierce, who was then in 
Geneva, attended and took part in the opening ses- 
sion of the Second World's Convention in August, 
1858. 

The regularly appointed American delegates failed 
to arrive at the Geneva Convention, but two Ameri- 
can members present, one from New York and one 
from Chicago, were invited to act in their stead. 

The interest regarding America centered in the 
great revival. 

Halbert of the Central Committee, then located at 
Buffalo, had prepared an extended careful report of 
this religious awakening. This was read to the con- 
vention and further amplified by Rev. Mr. Russell, 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 143 

who had taken an active part in the revival in New 
York City. 

The x\merican Associations came to be represented 
at the World's Convention by W. E. Shipton of Lon- 
don. This was not satisfactory to American leaders, 
many of whom felt that Shipton never understood or 
fully appreciated the American work, particularly in 
its later expansion on the recreative side. 

The greatest influence upon the American Asso- 
ciations from the Geneva Convention came from the 
paper on "Recreation" prepared by Dr. J. H. Glad- 
stone, F. R. S., of London, a brother of Thomas H. 
Gladstone, who had not long before made a tour both 
of the Associations of North America and those on 
the continent of Europe. 

Dr. J. H. Gladstone also presented this topic at the 
first convention of British Associations, which was 
held the following year at Leeds. Neither he nor the 
other Association leaders realized what an innova- 
tion this topic was, what a long controversy it was to 
inaugurate, and how it was to divide Association 
leaders, nor did they conceive of the changes it was 
to bring about in the religious thinking and methods 
of the work of the Church at large, especially in 
America. 

As a matter of fact, the Church was passing from 
a position of authority and prestige to one of standing 
on its own merits. The scientific age in thought and 
the democratic type of life were undermining au- 
thority in religion as well as in all other relationships. 
The time was approaching when men would attend 
church services and support religious work not from 
any external constraint but because of conviction. 
The Church could no longer compel support. It be- 
came necessary to attract and convince. Religion 
must demonstrate that it produced character and the 
spirit of brotherhood and thus furthers the progress 



144 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

of mankind. There was, however, at this time no 
thought of the modern doctrine of play as a means of 
developing personality, and recreation as the means 
of strengthening the fatigued body and mind in the 
presence of temptation. These agencies were dis- 
cussed as a means of bringing young men under 
Christian influences and thus as indirect means of 
accomplishing the conversion of young men. It was 
only by the plan of trial and error in the face of op- 
position from those who claimed that the Associa- 
tion was being "secularized" that recreation found a 
place among the agencies of the Association. The 
paper by Doctor Gladstone received general assent 
at the time on both sides of the Atlantic. Doctor 
Gladstone argued that recreation was "a necessity to 
healthy mental and physical development." "That it 
is obvious that to a society having a spiritual end in 
view, such a feature could only be proper as an aux- 
iliary." "That the Association should supply healthy 
and moral recreation only when the community or 
neighborhood does not otherwise supply those 
means." He concludes, "In favor of the entry of the 
Young Men's Christian Association upon this sphere 
of usefulness . . . only where there is, from the want 
of suitable provision elsewhere, a real need . . . only 
so far as it shall in no wise interfere with the prime 
work of the Association . . . and only so far as it 
can be guarded and hallowed by a Christian spirit." 
{Young Alert's Christian Journal, 1859, p. 135.) 

Doctor Gladstone urged that "repression" and 
"suppression" alone never bring good results and "an 
ignorant Christian of a narrow, limited spirit is often 
an obstacle to the Gospel. . . . Piety seeks every- 
thing that can advance the real benefit of man." 
(Second World's Convention Report, Geneva, 1858, 
pp. 69-90.) 

The World's Convention at Geneva (1858), the 



INTERRELATIONS WITH EUROPE 145 

British Convention at Leeds (1859), and the North 
American Convention at New Orleans (1860) had 
apparently set their stamp of approval on the intro- 
duction of amusements and "innocent forms of rec- 
reation," but the puritan tradition was not so easily 
baffled and very soon prejudice and narrowness both 
in the Association and outside produced a reaction 
from which the British Associations did not fully 
rally until the recent "hut" work for soldiers in the 
World War and from which the American Associa- 
tions emerged only after long and often bitter con- 
troversy. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS, 1855 TO 1861 

While the American Associations were laying 
foundations which were destined to give them the 
primacy of the Association movement, the leading in- 
fluence and the most stimulating ideas continued to 
come during this period from the parent Association 
at London. This Association from its pioneer char- 
acter, its clearness of aim, its steady success, its pa- 
rental interest in Associations everywhere, and its 
location at the financial center of the urban world 
had an influence which was measureless. It held the 
affections of leaders throughout the Associations. 
Delegates and visitors came to Aldersgate Street as 
to a shrine for inspiration and guidance. 

George Williams, Tarlton, and Shipton returned 
this affection and interest without stint. The anni- 
versaries and May breakfasts at Exeter Hall, presided 
over by the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, were stimu- 
lating occasions which unified in an intimate way the 
whole movement much after the manner of the later 
world conventions. At these anniversaries repre- 
sentatives were often present from a considerable 
number of both provincial and continental Associa- 
tions. To these gatherings came Doctor Butler of 
Washington, Richard C. McCormick of New York, 
William Chauncy Langdon, Theodore L. Cuyler, and 
many other Americans. From these gatherings they 
carried the spirit of the parent Association to all parts 
of the world. The affection and sympathy for the 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS, 1855 TO 1861 147 

parent Association was a cement that bound the or- 
ganizations together. 

The annual report of the London Association be- 
came an international document. In it was the report 
of the Central Association at Aldersgate Street. This 
was followed by reports in smaller type of the nine or 
ten metropolitan branches affiliated with it. Then 
followed reports of the provincial branches of the 
United Kingdom. As these increased in numbers 
they were reported in tabular form. Then came the 
colonial Association reports from Australia, Canada, 
Jamaica, and the other parts of the empire. Follow- 
ing these were reports of the foreign Associations, 
both European and American. 

The parental type of polity, if it may be called such, 
as long as the movement was small enough to permit 
was a bond of great value. By this plan metropolitan 
branches became affiliated with the parent Associa- 
tion by filing with it copies of their constitution. 
These documents must show that the object was the 
spiritual and mental improvement of young men, that 
the management was in the hands of Christian men, 
and that the voting membership was limited to con- 
verted young men. Provincial branches were organ- 
ized on the same plan. 

By this method the committee of management 
of the parent central Association became practically 
not only the metropolitan board for London, but the 
national committee for England as well. This com- 
mittee also entertained the Third World's Conference 
of all lands and came to sustain an important relation- 
ship to world affairs. As the movement grew this 
became an impracticable form of organization and it 
is not surprising that attempts were made toward a 
national council established on a democratic basis. 

The managing committee of the parent Association 
acted as a sort of mentor to the British Associations 



148 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

and to it were referred difficult questions for advice 
or settlement. Later the Quarterly Messenger was 
published by the parent society for the Associations 
of the British Isles. 

The bearing of these large voluntary responsibili- 
ties was made possible by the secretaries and a strong 
group of laymen who identified themselves with the 
London Association. Besides George Williams and 
the Earl of Shaftesbury, there were George Hitch- 
cock, W. D. Owen, R. C. L. Bevan, John and Samuel 
Morley, and a number of other leading merchants of 
the metropolis. These men gave a world-wide dis- 
tinction to the London Association and were the chief 
means of securing adequate funds for its advance- 
ment. 

Sec. 49. — George Hitchcock 

During this period George Hitchcock, in whose 
drapery establishment the Association was founded, 
was the treasurer of the parent Association. Hitch- 
cock, like Williams, was a native of Devonshire 
and had also been years before apprenticed in the 
same establishment on St. Paul's Churchyard. He 
rose to be the head of the business, as Williams in 
turn rose to be his successor. Hitchcock, while a re- 
ligious man, was led to become an active Christian 
worker by the employes of his own establishment. 
His endorsement and support of the infant Associa- 
tion was one of the chief factors in its success. He 
described the efforts of his employes to W. D. Owen, 
a prominent silk merchant, and it was this that led 
to the spread of the work to various houses of busi- 
ness. He paid the rent for the first headquarters of 
the Association at Sergeants Inn, made the first and 
largest contribution to the salary of the first secre- 
tary, and was for years the chief contributor toward 
current expenses. He furnished the Sunday after- 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS, 1855 TO 1861 149 

noon lunches made up of "tea and seedy cake" given 
at the Sunday Bible classes. Toward the fitting up of 
the first resort on Gresham Street in 1849 he gave 
two hundred and fifty pounds, and he was the largest 
donor toward the premises on Aldersgate Street in 
1854. 

At the opening of these premises Hitchcock made 
one of his forceful speeches. He said: "I think it 
quite a mistake, to suppose that ministers are to do 
all the converting of men." "I feel a deep sympathy 
with this institution, it has hold of my heart and it 
has hold of my judgment. ... I remember what 
London was when I was a young man. . . . Twenty- 
seven years ago (1827) I came to London and for 
some time after that it might be said of the young 
men of London, no man cared for their souls — or their 
bodies either. Young men in the large houses, for 
they were worse than the small ones, were herded to- 
gether, ten or fifteen in a room at night. They were 
literally driven from the shops to their beds and from 
their beds to the shop by a person called a floor 
walker. There was no sitting room, no social com- 
forts, no library; they remained until they were taken 
ill; then they were discharged at a moment's notice. 
Away they went, many of them to the work-house 
and numbers used to die prematurely. But what a 
change has taken place and principally through this 
Association and that admirable institution, the Early 
Closing Association." 

At the second British Convention in London, 1859, 
Hitchcock was present and presided at one of the ses- 
sions, but his health began to fail about this time and 
he died not long after, in 1863. 

Sec. 50. — George Williams 
The great and indefatigable worker in the London 
Association was George Williams, the prince of Chris- 



150 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

tian laymen, who for sixty years, from the founding 
of the Association in 1844 until his death at eighty- 
four years of age in 1904, was beyond all others the 
chief factor in this work for young men. 

It is not often a man has the opportunity to be both 
the founder and promoter of a great cause. His later 
work will appear as the history of the Association is 
told, but undoubtedly he and the secretary, W. E. 
Shipton, were the vital factors in London during the 
critical years from 1855 to 1861. During these years 
Williams rose into prominence in business life. He 
became the most trusted employe in the firm of Hitch- 
cock & Company, the intimate adviser of the chief 
proprietor, and then a partner in the firm. Upon the 
death of George Hitchcock in 1863 Williams was 
made the head of the business which had grown 
steadily since his first employment in 1841. Among 
his business friends in London were Samuel and John 
Morley, who seconded all his efforts to promote the 
Association, also Messrs. Owen and Bevan, who had 
favored the Association from its organization. The 
seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, then Lord Ashley, be- 
came acquainted with Williams in 1847, when the As- 
sociation was in its infancy. He became warmly 
attached to young Williams and at his solicitation 
presided at the annual meeting of the Association. 
This led to Earl Shaftesbury's accepting the presi- 
dency of the organization in 1851, a position in which 
he continued to serve until his death in 1885. Wil- 
liams, as his wealth increased, liberally supported the 
many benevolent projects of the Earl for the uplift of 
the working classes of England and Earl Shaftesbury 
was accustomed to speak of George Williams as "his 
best friend." 

They sympathized closely in their religious views, 
particularly after Williams, at the time of his mar- 
riage m 1853, decided to reidentify himself with the 




GEORGE WILLIAMS AT THE AGE OF THIRTY-FIVE 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS, 1855 TO 1861 151 

Church of England. Both the Earl of Shaftesbury 
and George Williams were staunch low-church men 
and opposed to "Puseyism." 

When Williams was an apprentice in the drapery 
house at Bridgewater he had friends in both the In- 
dependent and Unitarian societies. In the earnest 
discussion which then arose, Williams definitely ac- 
cepted the conservative orthodox view of the deity 
of Jesus and salvation through His death on the cross. 
He never wavered from this conviction. In his ideas 
of conduct he always held to the strict puritan ideals 
of his rural home in Devonshire. Sabbath observance 
was to him a sacred duty. He was a "teetotaler" at a 
time when this was regarded as an extreme position. 
His biographer points out that he even settled some 
important questions in life by the Old Testament 
method of casting lots. 

But while Williams held these stern puritan rules 
of conduct for himself and accepted a rigid Calvinistic 
system of doctrine, he was so practical in spirit and 
so broad in his sympathies that he permeated the 
whole London Association with a tolerant, concilia- 
tory temper. He was interdenominational in his atti- 
tude toward all questions. When an attempt was 
made to prevent Charles Spurgeon from addressing 
an Association gathering, Williams carried the day 
against sectarian prejudice. 

Williams believed in sympathetic personal contact 
as the best method of Christian work. It was a favor- 
ite suggestion of his in telling how to lead a young 
man into the Christian life, "Don't argue with him; 
invite him to supper." His sole aim was the conver- 
sion of young men and he brushed aside doctrinal dis- 
putes and ecclesiastical distinctions because he saw 
that these were of no interest to the young men he 
desired to reach. 

As he advanced in business life he faced the ques- 



152 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

tion of the use of his own leisure time. Williams pos- 
sessed the cheery, social temperament which made 
him popular with all classes of society. However, 
after some years of life in London he decided to de- 
vote himself completely to Christian endeavor among 
young men. In his diary, in 1857, he wrote ("Life of 
Sir George Williams," Hodder Williams, p. 146) : "I 
do solemnly declare from this evening to give myself 
unreservedly to this Association, to live for the pros- 
perity of the Young Men's Christian Association. I 
do praise God for having called me by His grace and 
so blessed me temporally. I do desire to be very low 
at His feet for all His mercies. I thank Him for the 
determination of so living as to be useful among the 
young men of the world, and now, O Lord, I pray 
Thee to give me from this hour a double portion of 
Thy spirit that I may so labor and work in this Thy 
cause that very many souls may be converted and 
saved." 

When the question of broadening the work of the 
Associations and admitting "associates" to the privi- 
leges of the organization arose, Williams, in spite of 
pronounced opposition, carried through the advanced 
program. He favored the establishment of the club 
house or resort on Gresham Street and was active 
later in raising money for the larger building on 
Aldersgate Street in 1854. 

It was chiefly due to George Williams that a group 
of distinguished Christian laymen became members 
of the managing committee of the Association. These 
men did not attend to the details of the daily activities 
of the society, but they were responsible for its gen- 
eral management and the establishment of policies. 
The Association is primarily a laymen's organization 
and much of the success of the movement has been 
due to the locating of final responsibility in the hands 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS, 1855 TO 1861 153 

of laymen. George Williams' greatest gift to the 
world was his own devoted personality. 

Sec. 51. — T. Henry Tarlton 
T. Henry Tarlton and his assistant and successor, 
W. Edwyn Shipton, were the first employed officers 
of the Young Men's Christian Association. Tarlton 
became secretary (missionary) in 1845 and continued 
in this position until 1856, when he resigned to enter 
the ministry of the Church of England. He gave up 
a position of prominence and a larger salary because 
he saw in the work of the Association an unusual 
opportunity for service. 

Tarlton and Williams were intimate friends. In 
deputation work in all parts of the country they 
traveled as companions, seeking to help in organiz- 
ing provincial Associations. They roomed together 
during the early days of the Association and worked 
out in conference many of the plans for its advance- 
ment. Tarlton was a progressive man and favored 
the broader program of work. The Young Men's 
Magazine of New York in 1857 said: "The name of 
Tarlton is known and honored by an army of young 
men in America. . . . The Young Men's Christian 
Association found its development in London, where 
T. Henry Tarlton has been, as secretary of the Asso- 
ciation, its leading spirit. His influence has probably 
done more to form the high character of that efficient 
institution than that of any other man." 

Under Tarlton's leadership the first building was 
occupied on Gresham Street in 1849. Here the wel- 
fare work as well as the religious work was developed. 
Tarlton was the organizer of the branches in different 
parts of London and later of the provincial branches. 
He attended the Paris Convention in 1855 and after 
entering the ministry he was in frequent demand as a 
speaker at Association gatherings. 



154 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

The London Association grew so rapidly under 
Tarlton's leadership that it was necessary to seek a 
larger building. For four years its headquarters 
were in the small rooms at Sergeants Inn, Fleet 
Street; five years in the more ample rooms in 
Gresham Street. The premises on Aldersgate Street 
were opened on September 28, 1854. On this occasion 
(Occasional Paper, No. 2, pp. 5-6) Tarlton said: "For 
a length of time the rooms were altogether too small 
for the accommodation of the members who daily use 
them and from their crowded state at the Bible classes 
on Sunday, they were very unhealthy. ... It is im- 
possible to chronicle the labors, still more so the influ- 
ences, which have been exercised during the past ten 
years by the Association. It is estimated that up- 
wards of 6,000 young men have attended the Bible 
classes, that 50,000 have attended its lectures, and 
that of the lectures published 650,000 copies have 
been sold. . . . Our aim will continue to be that 
which it has been, the moral and spiritual welfare of 
young men. We shall endeavor to use all subordinate 
agencies for the attainment of that ultimate object; 
Whatever may appear designed to reach the wants, 
purify the taste, and elevate the affections of young 
men we hope to have wisdom to adopt and to adapt 
for our use. Above all things do we desire that by 
God's grace we may guide many young men into the 
pathways of life and assist in training them in the 
holy art of doing good to others, that all those who 
are members of the Association may, in their individ- 
ual spheres, seek to glorify Christ by serving Him in 
an unostentatious righteous spirit." 

Sec. 52. — W. Edwyn Shipton 

W. Edwyn Shipton became secretary in full charge 
of the London Association in 1856. Much of both the 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS, 1855 TO 1861 155 

narrowness and the greatness of the Association work 
of the succeeding thirty years was due to him. Hod- 
der Williams wrote of the two secretaries as follows 
("Life of Sir George Williams," Hodder Williams, p. 
177) : "Two more devoted and in their several ways 
more brilliant men than Tarlton and Shipton it would 
have been impossible to find. The first was the en- 
thusiast, the orator; the second, the statesman and 
the organizer. Shipton would have succeeded in any 
walk of life. He relinquished a promising business in 
order to give himself wholly to the work for young 
men and he brought into that work all the ability and 
fertility of resource of a successful merchant. His 
tact, his quickness, his grasp of detail, his breadth of 
mind, his power of work, and his tremendous energy 
were of the utmost service to the Association. It was 
in a large measure owing to him that the work so 
triumphantly won through its most critical years." 

His genial social spirit shone forth at the annual 
Christmas breakfast of the Association and at the 
supper-conferences of the committee of management 
which came to be held at George Williams' home, 
Russell Square. He was jealous for the welfare of 
the Association's cause and feared absorption in the 
organization would cause its leaders to regard the 
organization as an end in itself instead of simply a 
means for the spiritual welfare of young men. This 
is a temptation to the employed officers of any organ- 
ization, particularly to those of long service. They 
are apt to become partisan and to forget the purpose 
of the organization in their zeal to build up the insti- 
tution itself. Shipton never forgot that he was serv- 
ing a great cause. 

He was interdenominational in spirit and strongly 
opposed sectarianism. His great interest was in re- 
ligious work and he always looked upon the welfare 
agencies of the Association as subordinate and only 



156 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

to be employed as they contributed to or made re- 
ligious work possible. Shipton favored social rooms 
and educational features, but was unfriendly to 
amusements. In answer to a correspondent he pub- 
lished the following statement ("Life of George Wil- 
liams," Hodder Williams, p. 155) : "We have no hesi- 
tation in saying that a Christian young man had 
better not compete in a swimming match, or indeed in 
a match of any kind. The desire of distinction will 
itself be a snare, while if he should win in the strife 
passions of envy, jealousy, or disappointment may 
be engendered in his competitors." 

This was written at a time when the American As- 
sociations were discussing the introduction of physi- 
cal training, and just after the convention at New 
Orleans had approved of both amusements and gym- 
nastics. Shipton, in an editorial in the Quarterly 
Messenger on the occasion of the Shakespeare ter- 
centenary celebration, speaks of two eminent minis- 
ters "who trailed their Christian priesthood in the 
dust to offer homage at the shrine of a dead play- 
wright." 

"We see," he continues ("Life of George Wil- 
liams," Hodder Williams, p. 156), "that Archbishop 
Trench closed his discourse at Stratford church by 
referring to the correctness of Shakespeare's views on 
the corruptness of human nature and on the atoning 
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did he think such 
matters were of much account to those who were 
about to join in idle pageants, theatrical fooleries, and 
above all in the oratorio of the Messiah wherein as 
John Newton once said, roughly but pointedly, 'the 
Redeemer's agonies are illustrated on cat-gut ! Mas- 
querade and sermon, pageant and oratorio ! It is all 
very mournful.' ' Into what absurd positions the 
lingering influence of the ascetic and puritan spirit 
placed its advocates. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS, 1855 TO 1861 157 

Hodder Williams recounts another incident which, 
while it occurred several years later, may well be re- 
corded here to reveal how difficult it has been for 
the Association to outgrow the traditional attitude 
toward amusements and recreation. Some members 
of the Dover Association, who apparently lacked a 
sense of humor, succeeded in excluding Punch from 
the reading room on the ground that it was "con- 
temptuous of religious influences if not absolutely 
hostile to them." ("Life of Williams," pp. 195-197.) 
This created a heated and scornful discussion 
throughout the public and religious press. The Do- 
ver Association board produced as its evidence a car- 
toon which contained "a humorous illustration of an 
old lady imparting to a sympathetic friend the fact 
that although she had permitted Susan (It's true, 
she's a dissenter) to go to chapel three times a Sun- 
day since she had been with her, she did not cook a 
bit better than she did the first day." 

Punch retaliated with a scathing article on the 
"Dolts of Dover," showing they had entirely missed 
the point and that the real meaning was exactly the 
reverse of their statement. In this plight the matter, 
according to the custom of local Associations, was re- 
ferred to Shipton and the board of the parent Asso- 
ciation for advice. They took the position that the 
articles in Punch were not unacceptable to religious 
people but agreed with the Dover board that the 
periodical should be excluded from the reading room 
because the Association was not intended for recrea- 
tion. 

Shipton wrote: "With the provision of opportuni- 
ties for religious culture and education under reli- 
gious sanctions our engagements with young men are 
fulfilled. We have never proposed to ourselves or in 
any manner undertaken to cater for the recreation of 
young men even in directions which are both lawful 



158 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

and expedient. The provision for recreative litera- 
ture would stand on the same ground as the provision 
for physical recreation or other lawful amusement. 
It should not be looked for in connection with the 
arrangements for the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation." 

This is in sharp contrast with the present position 
of the American Associations that play and recreation 
properly used may be a means for developing per- 
sonality and noble character and that fatigue which 
may be overcome by recreation is often the basis for 
temptation and moral delinquency. Shipton did not 
contribute toward broadening the work of the Asso- 
ciation. 

He was, however, one of the great popular Bible 
teachers of his day. His Sunday afternoon classes for 
young men, followed by a social hour with "tea and 
seedy cake," became the model for Bible classes all 
over the Association world. American visitors were 
greatly impressed with the conversational and at the 
same time spiritual character of these classes. They 
were always animated with an evangelistic purpose 
and at the close direct appeals were often made for 
young men to accept Jesus Christ as their Redeemer. 

McCormick of New York at the Richmond Con- 
vention in 1857 (Richmond Convention Report, 1857, 
p. 64) said: 

"Of the Bible classes of the London Association no 
language can convey too good a report. Hundreds 
of young men prize their privileges and profit by their 
attendance. Mr. Tarlton, the estimable honorary sec- 
retary, often has several hundred in his class, while 
in the same building (Aldersgate Street) and at the 
same hour, Mr. Shipton and others of the officers 
have large classes. Indeed, the British Associations 
with scarcely an exception devote the afternoon of 
the Sabbath to Bible instruction. Some eight or ten 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS, 1855 TO 1861 159 

classes meet in different parts of London at various 
branch organizations. 

"The secretaries are usually the leaders and control 
the discussion though questions may be put by any 
member. Tea is furnished immediately after ad- 
journment (say at 5 p.m.), that the young men may 
at once repair to evening service at the churches." 

It was by visitors to these Bible classes from the 
provinces and from abroad that the spirit and ideals 
of the London Association were carried to all parts 
of the world. The Americans were slow to introduce 
this form of effort, but later, under the leadership of 
McBurney, conversational Bible instruction became 
widespread. W. Hine Smith did much to stimulate 
conversational Bible study on his visit to the Ameri- 
can Associations in 1874. (See his paper at Dayton 
Convention and the discussion which followed. Day- 
ton International Report, pp. 34-44.) 

Shipton was earnest in promoting the lecture 
courses at Exeter Hall. These were carried on for 
many years before the Association purchased that 
well-known building on the Strand for its headquar- 
ters. This series of lectures was published under the 
editorship first of Tarlton, then of Shipton, in bound 
volumes which reached what was an enormous cir- 
culation for the times. The twenty volumes issued 
during these years formed a notable contribution to 
popular contemporary thought. 

Shipton prepared for the Paris Convention in 1855 
a history of the first eleven years of the London As- 
sociation, which is a notable document. Both Tarl- 
ton and Shipton were executive secretaries, though 
this conception of the office was later further de- 
veloped by McBurney. At this time in America there 
were few employed agents and none of them were 
outstanding leaders. The Montreal Association em- 
ployed a city missionary chiefly for Sunday school 



160 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

work. The Boston and New York Associations em- 
ployed custodians of the rooms who were called 
librarians. 

Langdon, Neff, George Stuart, and McCormick 
were all young men in active business life, who gave 
both of their time and means unstintedly for the As- 
sociation cause. Writing to one of the American lay- 
men at Brooklyn in 1856 Shipton said: "In London, 
we have not as with you committees for the discharge 
of special duties in connection with the work. Our 
committees are simply consultative. The executives 
of the society (Mr. Tarlton and myself) conduct its 
meetings, arrange its public lectures, keep minutes 
and accounts, beg and disburse its funds, conduct all 
its correspondence, receive young men for private re- 
ligious intercourse, conduct classes, and deliver lec- 
tures to our own and branch Associations. Daily at 
the offices superintend the reading rooms, receive 
visitors to the Association, and supply information as 
to its proceedings, meet the representatives of branch 
or kindred Associations and as far as opportunity ad- 
mits use hospitality toward them.' , {Young Men's 
Christian Journal, February, 1859, p. 31.) 

Langdon, who had evidently at times found Ship- 
ton too much occupied for correspondence or confer- 
ence, gives the following vivid picture of his activi- 
ties : 

"Our dear brother, the London secretary, sits at 
his desk in his sanctum. Can we not see him now, 
those of us who have been admitted? Absorbed 
body, mind, and heart, early and late. Surrounded 
with papers, packages, and letters, he sits among 
those who continually interrupt him, almost vainly 
endeavoring to grasp all the varied duties which he 
has assumed and to be faithful to all the varied in- 
terests which appeal to him. 

"Someone is almost ever with him, a traveling 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS, 1855 TO 1861 161 

brother from the provincial societies or from a foreign 
land, seeking his cordial sympathy; some young man, 
impressed with the truth at a Bible class, coming for 
guidance, a member of the committee with some busi- 
ness plan, or some curious tourist wishing to learn of 
the society and its operations. 

"And there he sits, if the immediate object of the 
visit be anything below the highest nature, divided 
between his desk and you, listening and even speak- 
ing, too, at times in a sort of parenthetical manner 
and with a partially abstracted look, keeping firm 
grasp, of you, and at the same time of whatever he 
may, at the moment, have beneath his pen, and from 
January to December by unavoidable remissness in 
correspondence drawing heavily upon the stock of 
Christian love, which he ever keeps abundantly to his 
credit in the hearts of those who know him." 

What a picture of devoted unremitting service. 
But it is not the ideal of a secretary exemplified 
by McBurney. McBurney looked upon Shipton's 
methods of administration as a menace to the devel- 
opment of the Association. He coined the phrase 
"secretarializing an Association" to describe the 
process by which the employed staff gradually takes 
on the work which should be done by the committees 
and the members. The function of the secretary was 
to be the leader, the organizer of scores and hundreds 
of young men, who would do the actual work of ex- 
tending the Kingdom of Christ among young men. 

The chief task of the secretary is to develop laymen. 

Nevertheless, Shipton accomplished a marvelous 
amount of service. He was not only secretary at 
Aldersgate Street, but he held a fatherly relationship 
to the metropolitan and provincial branches and 
through the world's conventions which he promoted 
he exercised a leadership over the Associations of all 
lands. 



162 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

British Association leaders in the provincial 
branches chafed under the restraint which the "pa- 
rental" form of national organization had established 
in Great Britain. Many wished a national committee 
elected by delegates from all the Associations and an 
annual convention at which an interchange of ideas 
might take place and at which the national council 
might be appointed. Langdon was active in urging 
this during his tour of the British Associations. The 
Association at Edinburgh and those at other points 
urged such a step. 

One of the important incidents of this period was 
the assembling of the first British Conference at 
Leeds, September 28-29, 1858. This gathering was 
brought about chiefly by those who wished a more 
representative type of national organization, similar 
to that in America. 

An officer of one of the principal British Associa- 
tions wrote Langdon a letter in 1856 in which he 
said {Quarterly Reporter, 1858, p. 44) : "I almost long 
to be in America where there are fewer prejudices to 
be removed before new institutions can be introduced. 
. . . This . . . will be one difficulty to overcome be- 
fore we can have such a confederation as you have in 
America. . . . Many of us feel daily the want of ad- 
vice in carrying out our great object. ... I feel . . . 
how much I might profit by the advice, counsel, and 
sympathy of those of our brethren who are doing the 
same work in other parts of England. The day is not 
far distant, I hope, when we shall have the oppor- 
tunity your annual gathering affords you of becom- 
ing personally acquainted with those whose counsel 
would be valuable." 

Most of the British Associations accepted the Paris 
Basis and regarded themselves as theoretically in a 
British Union, but they had never met in convention 
and had no publication for the interchange of ideas 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS, 1855 TO 1861 163 

and for the presentation of reports. The anniversary 
of the London Association and its annual report with 
statistics of the branches were the chief but inade- 
quate means of intercommunication. 

Langdon in writing of this situation said {Young 
Men's Christian Journal, 1859, p. 109) : "For that 
which has been accomplished towards organizing a 
'British Union' the credit and the gratitude is due to 
Brother Shipton of London; but for the state into 
which it has practically lapsed we should be careful in 
similarly assigning the blame. The chief difficulty is 
that the London secretary has but one brain and a 
single pair of hands. The mistake is the never-aban- 
doned hope on his part that he may yet be able to 
accomplish all that his large heart aims at." 

It was simply impossible to carry on the local work 
of the London Association and give adequate super- 
vision to the Associations of the United Kingdom. A 
compromise was effected at the Leeds Conference by 
the adoption of the following resolution : "This con- 
ference acknowledges the past services of the London 
Association as center to the existing Confederation 
of Great Britain and Ireland and requests it to act in 
that capacity until next year; but suggests that a com- 
mittee of correspondence be appointed to assist the 
London committee in effecting any organization that 
may be thought desirable or in any other way to fur- 
ther the general interests of the Association." 

This committee was named in the resolution and 
was accepted by the convention, but the effort really 
came to nothing in the end. 

The second British Convention was held the fol- 
lowing year at London. The Young Men's Christian 
Journal of the American Association (1859, p. 17) 
says: "Three central committees corresponding to 
that of our own Confederation, have been established, 
severally at London for England, at Edinburgh for 



164 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

Scotland, and it is hoped that Dublin will undertake 
the same office for Ireland. These committees are 
empowered conjointly to call annual conventions and 
to make all necessary preparations therefor." 

The British work did not, however, secure a satis- 
factory organization for supervision until the estab- 
lishment in 1883 of the National Council of which 
George Williams became the first president.* 

* The lost opportunity of those twenty and more years proved to 
be a handicap, only emphasized by comparison with America and 
not yet outgrown, it may be frankly admitted. — R. E. L. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE ASSOCIATIONS ON THE CONTINENT 
OF EUROPE, 1855 TO 1861 

It is not proposed to reconstruct in detail the work 
on the continent. Western Europe was divided then 
as now religiously between the Roman Catholic and 
the Protestant communions and politically on na- 
tional and racial lines. It was not a unit. There 
was no such union in the main interests of life as was 
found in Great Britain or in North America. Western 
Europe has inherited a common culture from medie- 
val and classic times, but it has no common speech, 
no political, religious, racial, or even economic unity. 
The period under discussion saw the beginnings of 
those struggles for national unity which have only 
reached their climax in the recent great World War 
and which have resulted in twenty-five independent 
sovereign states. This movement can never find an 
equilibrium except in some association of nations that 
will constitute a real world unity. The medieval ideal 
of a united Christendom, a veritable "City of God," 
had been overwhelmed by the upheavals of the Refor- 
mation and the readjustments to modern life. There 
was, however, an unquenchable desire for unity and 
solidarity in the hearts of the peoples of Western 
Europe. International organizations for fellowship 
like the Young Men's Christian Association express 
this ideal and it was the consciousness of this desire 
which so often thrilled the hearts of delegates from 
distant lands at world conventions. 



166 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

The diversities among the people of Western 
Europe made any form of union effort most difficult. 
How the Young Men's Christian Associations on the 
continent were to promote the interests of the King- 
dom of God among young men was a difficult prob- 
lem. It is not surprising that both the type of Asso- 
ciation and the methods of work varied in many 
respects from those in Great Britain and North Amer- 
ica and yet there was a fundamental unity of spirit 
and purpose. 

The continental Associations fall into two groups, 
those among French-speaking young men and those 
in Lutheran countries. The Holland Associations 
were more closely allied with the French group but 
presented characteristics of their own. 



Sec. 53. — The French and Swiss Associations 

The three most virile centers of spiritual life among 
the French-speaking group were Geneva, Paris, and 
Nimes. The outstanding leaders were Henri Dunant 
and Max Perrot of Geneva, Pastor J. Paul Cook of 
Paris, and Laget of Nimes. 

Like Mt. Blanc among the Alps, so Geneva stands 
out unique among the cities of Europe — the cradle 
of religious liberty, the home of John Calvin, Rous- 
seau, and Henri Amiel, the asylum for the persecuted 
and the seat of science and learning. At the period 
under discussion its population numbered but 60,000; 
there were both a State and a free Church. The can- 
ton and the municipality were democratic. To the 
world Geneva is not a place. It has stood for an ideal. 
Without military strength or commercial greatness 
it has relied on moral power. It is not surprising that 
Geneva was the leader in Christian work among 
young men on the continent or that the World's 
Committee was later located within its borders. 



ASSOCIATIONS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE 167 

The difficulties facing evangelical Christian work 
for young men in Europe were immense. Neff of 
Cincinnati, writing of his tour of the continental As- 
sociations in 1859, compared the situation at home 
and abroad. {Young Men's Christian Journal, 1859, 
Vol. 5, p. 137.) He said: "Here [America] every- 
thing is favorable; religion is respectable; piety is 
considered a desirable qualification by all; the Sab- 
bath is generally observed and every man is free to 
worship his Maker according to the dictates of his 
conscience. On the continent it is very different. The 
State religion is, I fear, almost entirely a religion of 
pomp and ceremony. Piety, evangelical religion, are 
regarded as heresy or fanaticism. The Sabbath is 
generally not observed at all or made a gala day; and 
he who wishes to worship God in any other way than 
that which is sanctioned by the State, though he may 
not be interfered with, will certainly find more 'cold 
shoulders' than 'helping hands/ Even in Geneva the 
peasants of Savoy assemble in the market-place on 
the Sabbath day with the implements of husbandry 
in their hands to be hired for the week, while in all 
the continental cities I have visited the shops are open 
and business of all kinds transacted until 'rouge et 
noir' on Sabbath night at Baden-Baden caps the cli- 
max of desecration. Under such circumstances the 
profession and practice of evangelical Christianity is 
no trifling undertaking, and such organizations as the 
Young Men's Christian Association on the continent 
appear to me to be instrumentalities chosen and ap- 
proved by our Heavenly Father for keeping alive the 
faith and zeal of His children." 

Langdon regarded Geneva as the most interesting 
Association field on the continent of Europe. (First 
Washington Report, p. 34.) Neff was of the same 
opinion. He says {Young Men's Christian Journal, 
1859, p. 136), "If two societies were selected as repre- 



168 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

sentatives of the Associations of the continent and 
Great Britain they would probably be those of 
Geneva and London because they best exemplify the 
different systems pursued." 

The early history of the Geneva Association is 
bound up with the life of Henri Dunant. 

In the summer of 1847 this remarkable young man 
with two others made an excursion into the Swiss 
Alps which proved of great significance. One of 
these young men, writing in 1858 {Quarterly Re- 
porter, 1858, Vol. 3, pp. 33-35), says, "Often when 
we were clambering up our beautiful mountains, our 
conversation turned upon religious subjects and at 
night before retiring we rendered together our thanks 
to the Creator of the sublime grandeur that we had 
been admiring during the day." These conferences 
they decided to continue on their return to Geneva. 
The meetings soon became too large for the homes 
in which they assembled and the young men secured 
a hall belonging to the Evangelical Society. 

The writer continues : "At this time our friend 
Dunant was by far the most active and the most de- 
voted. He brought to the reunions and visited at 
their homes more young men than all the others. He 
was qualified to discover those who were able to join 
us. . . . It was he who first had the idea of our being 
put in relations with the young men of other cantons 
and other countries." 

Henri Dunant also had the leading influence in 
founding the Red Cross Society. In 1859 he was a 
voluntary stretcher-bearer on the battlefield of Sol- 
ferino. The scenes of suffering and cruelty which he 
witnessed there led him to urge the founding of an 
international society for the aid of wounded soldiers. 
He published in 1862 a treatise entitled "Un Souvenir 
de Solferino" and delivered lectures advocating relief 
in war. These efforts led to several conferences 



ASSOCIATIONS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE 169 

which resulted in the "Geneva Convention" of 1864, 
signed by ten different governments, establishing the 
Red Cross. The new International Encyclopedia 
states (Vol. 7, p. 324, 1915): "M. Dunant bestowed 
his entire fortune on various charities. In 1901 he 
received the Nobel prize for services in the cause of 
peace." M. Dunant was also a writer of note. 

Langdon said of Dunant, he "was the life and soul 
of our cause in the early days on continental Europe." 
Writing to Langdon in 1854 Dunant says of himself, 
"Henceforth, God willing, our correspondence shall 
become active; in fact, no one is better able to tell 
you of the great awakening which is operating upon 
the European continent, for the past three or four 
years among young men, for I have this work very 
closely at heart; and for five years I have sought by 
my vows and my prayers for the fraternal and Chris- 
tian affection these ecumenical relations between the 
numerous Associations and meetings which I have 
had the happiness to see arise, little by little, by the 
grace of God." 

Dunant became corresponding secretary of the 
Geneva Association in 1852, the same year Langdon 
was appointed to that office by the Washington As- 
sociation. The early Associations owe much to the 
fellowship of these two devoted young men. Though 
widely separated they stimulated each other by letter 
and later met when Langdon visited Geneva in 1857. 

Dunant wrote Langdon in 1854: "We believe our- 
selves to be the first who have desired this exchange 
of reports and correspondence between all the Asso- 
ciations of the world — for this we have constantly 
labored. We have always sent all our addresses, 
which are numerous, to all who desired them and we 
always encouraged all the i\ssociations of different 
countries to place themselves in connection with each 
other. And owing to this we alone have extended 



170 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

our relations entirely over Europe. We feel deeply 
that one of the ends of Christian unions is this Chris- 
tian bond, which ought to unite the Christian young 
men throughout the world and which one day can 
have with the blessing of God immense power." 

Langdon thus described the Geneva Association of 
this early period (First Washington Report, 1854, p. 
35) : "The hall of the Geneva Association, situated 
on the ground floor of the house in which Calvin lived 
and died, is open from 5 to 10 o'clock p.m., and about 
250 young men are in the habit of resorting thither 
from time to time to reap the advantages presented 
by a library of a thousand volumes and to peruse the 
various religious journals, French, English, German, 
and Italian, with which it is provided." 

The Association was open to members of both "the 
established and the liberal (free)" churches. "Twice 
a week are held meetings for the study of the Bible 
and frequent reunions draw the members together to 
speak of their own spiritual interests and of the affairs 
of their own and sister Associations. A series of lec- 
tures of a spiritual character are maintained, in which 
department, as, in fact, in many others, the valuable 
services of Professor Merle d'Aubigne have always 
been devotedly at the service of the society. Many 
of the members spend some time in visiting the sick 
and the poor and bearing the oil of comfort for both 
the body and the spirit." 

The young men of the Geneva Union were eager 
to promote their cause throughout Switzerland and 
France. Henri Dunant and Max Perrot were among 
the leaders in this effort. A network of small Asso- 
ciations spread over the Swiss cantons, both French- 
and German-speaking. The most intimate Christian 
fellowship existed between these small groups of 
young men. The report of the Geneva Association 
to the eighth London anniversary says: "We think 



ASSOCIATIONS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE 171 

that interchange of visits between different unions 
will be a source of great blessing for all. Two mem- 
bers of our society, Messrs. Perrot and Johannot, are 
gone, the one to Neuchatel and Berne and the other 
to Basle and Strasburg. Everywhere they have been 
received with a cordial welcome and have partici- 
pated with the friends in these different localities in 
the delights of Christian communion." 

One Geneva Report (1858) states, "The Union of 
Geneva desires to exert a direct influence and to be- 
come a center of the Unions of the French language." 
This same report states that the Geneva Association 
had entertained as guests Heyblom from Amster- 
dam, Tarlton from London, Russell Cook from New 
York, and Laget from Nimes. 

Dunant made three extended tours through the 
French-speaking Associations of Western Europe. 
On the first of these he was accompanied by Max 
Perrot, president of the Geneva Association. Writ- 
ing to Langdon Dunant says : "Our sole object was 
the visiting of unions already in existence and the 
forming of new ones — we found great disposition 
toward this work in the Cevennes — a country of 
many memories in the history of Protestantism. We 
had the joy of seeing numerous meetings and Asso- 
ciations formed." 

On his second tour alone (1853) Dunant visited 
middle France and found thirty societies and meet- 
ings in existence, the membership varying from eight 
or ten to as many as forty young men. 

On his third tour in 1854 Dunant found still greater 
progress. He writes, "These gatherings and these 
Associations are multiplying in an incredible manner 
in this poor and unhappy country of France, so full 
of superstition and infidelity." The members of 
these societies developed an earnest spiritual charac- 
ter because of the opposition they had to face. They 



172 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

also sought fellowship and intercommunication with 
other societies because they were so isolated and 
small in membership. 

The Geneva Association surpassed all of the others 
on the continent. In 1859 its membership including 
patrons of the reading room numbered 250 and the 
society found it necessary to seek new and larger 
rooms. Max Perrot, the president, said: "Our prayer 
meetings these last weeks were crowded. We were 
obliged to have two or three at the same hour in vari- 
ous chapels and rooms." He also states with evident 
anxiety: "I shall have to find £300 this winter for 
our Association, which I must beg myself. It is 
fatiguing work to pay more than 100 begging visits 
even to pious people." 

The Geneva and in fact all the Swiss Associations, 
like those in America, were not limited to one class 
of young men, but were inclusive in character. One 
report speaks of members from the highest social 
class. Another says, "The social position of our 
members is very diverse ; all ranks of society, the rich 
and the poor, the farmer and the mechanic, the stu- 
dent and the clerk, finding place among them." 

The Geneva Association attracted chiefly the 
young men of strictly conservative doctrinal views. 
The Association was especially devoted to Bible 
study. One report states (Eighth London Report, 
p. 43) : "We are desirous by the help of God to pro- 
claim with increasing clearness and energy the great 
evangelical truths." Article seven of the Geneva 
Constitution proclaims belief in "the divine authority 
of the whole word of God, the mystery of the Trinity; 
the everlasting divinity and humanity of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, the only and perfect Saviour; the neces- 
sity of the Christian to work with the help of the 
Holy Spirit in humility, in prayer, and in total renun- 
ciation of self, in making known everywhere that 



ASSOCIATIONS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE 173 

only Name which is given among men whereby they 
may be saved." 

At the Paris Convention in 1855 the Swiss dele- 
gates wished to have belief in the authority of the 
Bible made a condition for the recognition of Young 
Men's Christian Associations. 

The Geneva Association also reports uniting in 
prayer with the Association of Edinburgh "for the 
fall of popery, for the strengthening of persecuted 
Christians, and for the free dissemination of the Holy 
Scriptures in the countries under the dominion of the 
Church of Rome." 

The secretary of the Geneva Association wrote as 
follows to the Association in London (Occasional 
Paper, No. 1, p. 17, 1853) : "The times are most seri- 
ous; let us not strive to conceal it; very soon perse- 
cutions may come and we may have to appear to ren- 
der our testimony. . . . Let the word of our Heavenly 
Father be our only nourishment. At the very mo- 
ment that the word of God is being attacked on all 
sides, let us be ready to defend it. . . . Men doubt 
its inspiration; let us receive it as fully inspired; men 
despise it; let it, however, be our most precious 
treasury." 

It is not surprising that the Geneva Association 
leaders should have urged strongly conservative views 
regarding the authority of the Bible and have sought 
to make ultra-orthodox teaching characteristic of the 
Association. This had been the historical attitude of 
the church leaders of Geneva. Andrew White, writ- 
ing in 1898 ("A History of the Warfare of Science 
with Theology in Christendom," Vol. II, p. 178), says 
in speaking of the inspiration of the Bible : "The Swiss 
Protestants were especially violent on the orthodox 
side: their formula consensus of 1675 declared the 
vowel points to be inspired and three years later the 
Calvinists of Geneva by a special canon forbade that 



174 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

any minister should be received into their jurisdiction 
until he publicly confessed that the Hebrew text as it 
today exists in the Masoretic copies is both as to the 
consonants and vowel points, divine and authentic." 
With this background the Geneva church naturally 
leaned toward conservative views. 

In 1855 the struggle between the traditional inter- 
pretation of the Bible and that based upon modern 
scholarship was already intense in Europe though as 
yet little evidence of this was noticeable in America. 
Science, evolution, scholarship, and the new psychol- 
ogy and above all the social conception of the King- 
dom of God were to transform Christian ideals, the 
conception of the Bible, of God, and of the personality 
of man. It is upon these ideas that the modern As- 
sociation was to be established but very little con- 
ception of this was noticeable in Association circles 
either in Europe or America. 

The young men of the French Associations were 
of the valiant type. Their work was largely a protest 
against the prevailing unbelief and evil conduct 
around them. They were the outposts in the ene- 
mies' country and were men of heroic spirit and deep 
spiritual life. In 1858 there were seventy-six Asso- 
ciations in France. 

Speaking of these, and particularly of the Associa- 
tion at Paris, Langdon said {Young Men's Christian 
Journal, 1859, pp. 31-32) : 

"When one turns to the reports and letters from 
our French brethren, he is struck with the contrast 
presented by their history and our own as well as by 
that between the characteristics of the French unions 
and those of the French people at large. Where, as 
in England, the Association may be considered in 
some sort a development of the national institutions 
and character, it bears a national impress, but where, 
as on the other side of the channel, it is rather a re- 



ASSOCIATIONS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE 175 

action from national institutions and character, it may 
be expected that it should be stamped in the reverse. 

"While, therefore, we have seen our London 
brethren occupying a prominent and actively aggres- 
sive attitude, laying hold of secular channels through 
which to send abroad the healthy currents of reli- 
gious truth, gathering large halls full of young men, 
established in an attractive and commodious build- 
ing which, from the porter's stand behind the great 
front door to the quiet third-story rooms where full 
meetings gather for devotional purposes, permits no 
single thought of experimental position or of a strug- 
gling life — we turn when in search of our Paris 
brethren away from the Pont des Arts through dingy 
streets toward the Quartier Latin; and though we 
have entered the Rue Jacob and perhaps found No. 6, 
we pass the gateway-looking portal into the court- 
yard and ascend the stairs more than half doubtful if 
the address on which we have relied is right. 

"Here in a small suite of rooms are found a few 
warm Christian hearts, it may be, reading quietly in 
the outer or it may be gathered still more quietly 
within the inner room, engaged in the study of the 
word of God — one day in French, one day in English, 
and a third in German. 

"The French societies are small and simple in or- 
ganization, possessed of little machinery and of re- 
stricted means — exclusively occupied in the cultiva- 
tion of vital piety among their few members and 
attempting nothing aggressive. . . . The restraint to 
which such a society is subjected in Paris entirely 
prevents it from realizing their hoped for activity and 
general usefulness. ... Its membership is almost 
entirely of students and others from the departments 
and abroad, rarely including a Parisian." 

The president of the Paris Association, Pastor 
Paul Cook, wrote to the London Association, "Our 



176 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

activities are quickened by the realization of the fact 
that every meeting we are permitted to hold may be 
the last, as we frequently carry on our exercises in 
the presence of the police who keep a strict surveil- 
lance of our proceedings." 



Sec. 54. — The Associations in Germany 

The most isolated group of Associations during this 
period were in Germany. The German Associations 
were represented at the Paris Convention in 1855 by 
only four delegates as contrasted with fifteen from 
Switzerland and sixteen from Great Britain. Pastor 
Diirselen, the great leader of the German Associa- 
tions, was made vice-president of the convention and 
took a prominent part. Only a small number of dele- 
gates from Germany attended the Second World's 
Convention at Geneva in 1858 and but three the third 
convention at London in 1862. 

The first definite attempt on the part of the British 
Associations to learn of the work in Germany was 
made in the fall of 1854, when Dr. Thomas H. Glad- 
stone, who later visited the Associations of the United 
States and Canada, made a tour of the German Asso- 
ciations. Doctor Gladstone wrote a careful account 
of his visit which was published in the Eighth Lon- 
don Report and also in the American Quarterly Re- 
porter. 

With credentials from the London Association, 
Doctor Gladstone visited the Kirkentag or Church 
convention attended by 2,000 leaders of German re- 
ligious life at Frankfort, September, 1854. At this 
gathering the "Inner Mission" or home mission work 
of Germany was considered and as a part of it the 
work of the "Junglings Verein" or Young Men's 
Association. In this intimate way the work of the 
Association was recognized as an integral part of the 



ASSOCIATIONS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE 177 

home mission work of the German Church and reso- 
lutions were passed calling upon pastors to organize 
and promote these Associations wherever possible. 

The relation of the Association to the Church, a 
vexed question in America with its many denomina- 
tions, was solved in Germany by making the parish 
minister in most cases president of the Young Men's 
Union. 

Doctor Gladstone reported to the London Associa- 
tion : 

"The correspondence maintained with the Young 
Men's Christian Associations in many parts of the 
continent and in America had been sufficient to satisfy 
our members in England as to the Christian aim and 
the generally efficient working of the many societies 
which have so rapidly come into existence there dur- 
ing the past few years. Little intelligence had, how- 
ever, been received from Germany. The Associa- 
tions existing there were not in correspondence with 
our own. 

"The fact of a large number of societies under 
the name Young Men's Associations being in opera- 
tion in various parts was all that was known; and 
with the divided state of religious opinion in that 
country, the tendency to unrestrained speculation in 
the region of spiritual inquiry, and the likelihood, un- 
der circumstances so disadvantageous as those there 
presented, of such meetings degenerating into oppor- 
tunities for mere intellectual display or even for po- 
litical debate, rather than for the promotion of the 
simplicity of the Gospel — with a state of things like 
this it was ... a matter of uncertainty and solicitude 
how far the Associations in Germany might have 
yielded to the natural current and prevailing tend- 
encies of the time. . . . 

"I saw it my duty in the first place to ascertain by 



178 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

personal investigation the object, the character, and 
the conduct of the German Associations." 
Doctor Gladstone was fully convinced that in all these 
respects the German Associations should be affiliated 
with and recognized by the Young Men's Christian 
Associations of other lands. 

One object, he mentions, was "to draw young men 
away from the theater and the drinking-rooms, and 
to gather them together for purposes of mutual im- 
provement, at the same time to provide for them a 
better aliment than they could find either in the athe- 
istic or socialistic clubs which already abounded and 
which were a positive and a crying evil." 

The German Associations were the first successful 
attempt to organize a religious society among young 
workingmen by Protestant leaders. Doctor Glad- 
stone states, "The class referred to, known in Ger- 
many by the name of Handwerks-gesellen, are in- 
deed so numerous that an Association of young men 
naturally conveys the impression of a society estab- 
lished for these operatives in particular." 

The German Unions were compactly organized, 
especially in Westphalia. There was a committee in 
charge of the entire province, under this was the dis- 
trict committee, and under the district committees, 
the local unions. Pastor Durselen of Ronsdorf con- 
tinued through twenty-five years to act as the presi- 
dent of the Rhenish- Westphalian Union and in this 
way was a controlling factor in the German work. 

The establishment of homes for traveling young 
workingmen continued to be the most unique feature 
of the German Associations. Doctor Gladstone re- 
ports to the London Association the most cordial re- 
ception from the German societies and also expresses 
his approval of their religious teaching. He says : "I 
associated with the Frankfort members not only in 
the more important meetings of the Kirkentag but 



ASSOCIATIONS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE 179 

also at their ordinary meetings afterwards, when they 
were in their ordinary everyday aspect. It is with 
the most grateful remembrance that I call to mind the 
happy reception I had among them and the kindly 
feeling that was manifest toward me on the ground 
of Christian brotherhood — a feeling that would 
scarcely permit them to let me leave their midst and 
which showed itself by many attentions to myself and 
many charges of Christian remembrance and frater- 
nal affection which I now deliver to you." 

Doctor Gladstone says of the religious life and 
teaching of the German Associations: "Gratefully 
and joyfully does my memory recall the exhibition I 
there had whilst sitting amongst them in their Bible 
class and joining, though in a strange language, their 
small and simple circle in reading and prayer, of the 
realized presence of God's spirit sanctifying our meet- 
ing and rendering it a season of heavenly commun- 
ion." 

The Unions were conservative in their theological 
point of view and avoided controversy. Doctor Glad- 
stone writes : "Political purposes are dreaded, social- 
istic ideas are regarded with abhorrence, mere hu- 
manitarianism is known and felt to be unsatisfying 
to the cravings of the immortal spirit and the bare 
study of the letter of the Scripture, the controversy 
on Christian dogmatics, the mere intellectual gladia- 
torship in connection with religious truth, so often 
exhibited in the universities of their land, are felt by 
the poor journeymen and apprentices that form the 
majority of these Associations to be objects as little 
desirable in themselves as they are for the most part 
unattainable by them." 

The German Unions in the West and North made 
no conditions of membership except willingness to 
unite with the society. In spite of this Doctor Glad- 
stone states that they maintained easily the religious 



180 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

character of their organizations. In fact, they were 
so identified with the Church that the members were 
often scoffed at and ridiculed by worldly companions. 
In Southern Germany, on the other hand, the Unions 
required for membership the acceptance of the Augs- 
burg confession, but Doctor Gladstone regarded this 
as limiting their usefulness. 

Sec. 55. — The Geneva Convention, 1858 

The culmination of the Associations' activity in 
Europe during this period was the Second World's 
Convention held in August, 1858. It was illustrative 
of the international outlook and missionary interest 
of the Association at Geneva that it was chosen as the 
host for this convention. The deep interest of the 
leaders at Geneva in the work at large was a precursor 
of its selection twenty years later as the headquarters 
of the Central Committee. 

Following the Paris Convention, Shipton, at that 
time the only employed executive officer in the Asso- 
ciation world, took the chief place in general affairs. 
Charles Fermaud says of him ("Fifty Years' Work 
Among Young Men in All Lands," 1844 to 1894, pp. 
7-8): 

"The London Association rose into the first rank 
through its early international efforts, the complete- 
ness of the organization, and the great influence of 
its founder, George Williams. With him were asso- 
ciated other distinguished men. Foremost among 
them was William Edwyn Shipton, the first London 
secretary. He was a man richly gifted, of broad and 
enlightened views, and with a rare knowledge of 
men. By his talents and his force of character he 
gathered around him a little nucleus of friends with 
whom he was in the habit of taking counsel after the 
first Paris Conference in 1855. 



ASSOCIATIONS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE 181 

"Chosen from among the most active and well- 
known workers of various countries, these men, the 
first representatives of the international idea, formed 
practically the first international committee, though 
without any definite organization.'' 

It was by mutual arrangement agreed that the con- 
vention for 1858 would be held at Geneva. The New 
York City Association, which had held aloof from the 
Confederation at home, was careful to state in refer- 
ring to this convention (New York Report, 1859, p. 
23) : "It should be observed that the resolutions 
adopted by the Conference, express the opinions and 
beliefs of the assembled brethren, but were not de- 
signed to bind any of the Associations which are, in 
no way, responsible for their views, though the mem- 
bers generally will doubtless gratefully respond to 
their affectionate counsels." 

All plans and arrangements for the conference fell 
upon the entertaining Association, the first circular 
was sent out December 1, 1857, and a second four 
months later. The Geneva Association chose the 
topics to be considered. Two hundred delegates were 
present from ten different countries, more than at- 
tended any other world's convention until the eighth, 
held in the same city in 1878. 

The conference was marked by a most cordial hos- 
pitality and many opportunities for informal acquaint- 
ance and intercourse. It was significant less for im- 
portant enactments than for cementing bonds of 
friendship and promoting Christian fraternity. In 
this the spirit of the Genevese shone forth unexcelled. 

The opening session was indeed impressive. The 
stately cathedral was placed at the disposal of the 
delegates. The report of the gathering states, "It 
was an appropriate opening for the conference to 
meet thus in this magnificent temple in which three 
centuries before the Reformers proclaimed the truths 



182 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

of the Gospel." The evening session was held in the 
most spacious hall in the city and was largely at- 
tended by the general public. One of the interesting 
incidents was a brief address by the Honorable Frank- 
lin Pierce, ex-president of the United States, who was 
at the time visiting in Switzerland. ' 

The first informal gathering was held in an exten- 
sive private garden where the two hundred delegates 
seated in a large circle responded to the call of the 
roll by nations. The social gatherings were in every 
particular so arranged as to facilitate the main pur- 
pose of the conference. The evening of the second 
day was devoted to a sail on Lake Geneva. The boats 
were illuminated and a reception was given on the 
grounds of Count Gasperin. The evening session of 
the second day was held at the country home of the 
president of the Association, Max Perrot. On the 
morning of the last day the delegates assembled for 
breakfast on Mount Saleve, where there was "much 
interchange of mirth and good fellowship." 

An incident which greatly interested the conference 
was the discovery by one of the delegates of a rock 
inscribed with the name of Voltaire and the date 1758. 
Attention was called to the statement attributed to 
Voltaire that in a century Christianity would be obso- 
lete, only remembered by historians and students. 
One of the delegates to show the folly of this prophecy 
inscribed on the same rock the name of the conven- 
tion and the date 1858. 

The crowning experience was the solemn close, 
thus described by a member of the conference: "In 
the evening the delegates had the privilege of assem- 
bling at the holy table, to eat together the Lord's 
supper. What solemn hours for all these soldiers of 
Christ ! What moments of emotion and bliss ! How 
could they have separated in a manner more appro- 
priate to their vocation !" 



ASSOCIATIONS IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE 183 

Of the addresses and papers at the convention, the 
most interesting was by Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F. R. S., 
of London, brother of Dr. Thomas H. Gladstone. His 
topic was "Of the Need of Recreation Natural to 
Young Men. Should the Christian Union occupy it- 
self with this? To what extent can it satisfy this 
want?" 

The main points of this paper have already been 
presented under the discussion of recreation and 
physical training. 

The emphasis was chiefly regarding amusements, 
little reference being made to gymnastics or sports. 

Shipton, with more breadth than he sometimes 
showed, spoke of the need of drawing young men 
away from places of evil resort. He said: "Piety 
does not diminish our pleasures but sanctifies them. 
. . . We should provide young men amusements in- 
nocent and useful." One of the delegates from Am- 
sterdam reported : "A recreation we allow in Holland 
is tobacco. We smoke together. This does not harm 
our edification at all." This aroused considerable 
amusement.* 

The conference adopted the following resolution: 

* This traditional hostility to smoking has pervaded the American 
Associations north of the Mason and Dixon line. There was a 
vigorous attempt at prohibition in the Associations in the northern 
states up to the time of the great war, in spite of the use of tobacco 
by some of the leading secretaries and laymen, officers of the Asso- 
ciation, and by many of the members in their other clubs and 
societies. 

Smoking became so prevalent in the War of 1914-1918 amongst 
young men that prohibition became ineffective in practically all of 
the Associations. It was then limited to "smoking rooms," social 
rooms, or certain parts of the building. Smoking has never been 
prohibited in the railway, industrial, or other Associations primarily 
for working classes. If smoking were a moral issue, why such 
deviations in policy? The modern pre-war practice in the American 
Associations apparently was to follow the lead of such churches as 
the Methodist which had restrictive regulations, rather than the 
practice of such churches as the Episcopal, which had liberal 
practice. — R. E. L. 



184 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

•'The delegates recognize that the Associations ought 
to occupy themselves with this need of recreation, 
but as sanctifying it — leaving to each Association a 
certain liberty to choose the nature and the mode of 
recreation according to national taste and local con- 
veniences." 

The American Associations, as already recorded, 
took at the convention at New Orleans in the follow- 
ing year, 1860, the first definite steps toward carrying 
out this idea, but their plans were interrupted by the 
Civil War. 

The Geneva Convention listened with marked in- 
terest to a report of the great religious revival which 
was then taking place in the United States. 



CHAPTER VIII 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD 

Some interesting reflections are suggested by this 
reconstruction of the life of the Associations of 
America and Europe during the years from 1855 to 
1861. 

In the first place, this was strikingly a laymen's 
movement — the golden age of the volunteer worker. 
This has been less and less true of the whole Associa- 
tion movement up to the present time, until now few 
national or international names of laymen stand out 
above the Association horizon. The leaders in great 
cities or countries or international fields, if one at- 
tempted to name them, are not laymen but salaried 
officers like Shipton. The Langdons in America, the 
Williamses in England, the Diirselens of Germany, 
and the Perrots of Geneva are largely succeeded by 
salaried officials. The work of the organization has 
become so vast and so technical that only employed 
experts who give their entire time to it can lead. 
Necessary as this is it is not without certain dan- 
gers. For it is imperative that the authority for the 
policies of the Association should be vested in the 
hands of the laymen. The laymen interested in the 
Young Men's Christian Association should study the 
careers of Langdon and Williams and reassert their 
position in the organization. This is of vital impor- 
tance if the organization is to be a progressive spirit- 
ual power. The layman is far less likely to institu- 
tionalize the Association or to make it an end in itself 
instead of a means to an end. In all the great crises 



186 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

of this period the laymen decided the immediate issue 
rightly. It is true that the Americans were diverted 
from the field of work for young men by lay leaders, 
but the more important issue was the founding of an 
international agency of supervision, and on this ques- 
tion their judgment was unerring. 

They were equally sound on the great question of 
the relation of the Association to the slavery issue. 
The Associations of 1855-1861 lacked the splendid 
leadership which secretaries have since given, but 
they demonstrated the value of laymen in Christian 
service. 

All social and religious movements seem to face 
this difficulty. In the Hebrew Theocracy the priest 
was likely to make ceremony take the place of wor- 
ship and in the Christian Church the ecclesiastic is 
always in danger of substituting the form for the 
spirit. The secretary is in danger of mistaking the 
means for the end and thus magnifying the institution 
instead of the cause it was intended to promote. 

The layman is in danger of overenthusiasm and 
emotion and from absorption in his own occupation 
is often unable to give consecutive time and effort. 
He is apt to be narrow and superficial. But the vol- 
unteer worker is in a more detached position than 
the employed officer and so capable of calmer judg- 
ment. Progress is most likely to be secured when the 
employed officer originates policies which must be ap- 
proved by the layman who should have final author- 
ity. This became the established practice of the 
Young Men's Christian Association in America be- 
cause of the experiences of the pre-Civil-War period. 

The matter of next importance was the independ- 
ence of the local Association. This development we 
owe to the sound judgment of the leaders of this 
period. The great step forward was establishing the 
Central Committee as an agency of supervision. This 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD 187 

has developed in recent times into the most extensive 
world-wide supervisory body in existence. Was the 
American International Committee to become a gov- 
erning body or to develop as the servant of the local 
Associations? It was fear of centralization and par- 
ticularly that the committee might force the local 
Associations to take a stand on the slavery issue 
which led the leaders of 1855-1861 to deny all author- 
ity to the Central Committee and to insist upon a 
purely advisory relationship. 

It is remarkable how this release from the burden 
of bearing authority led to the development of the 
Central Committee. In later years no other agency 
had the needed information, no other body had the 
employed officers, the necessary funds, or the promot- 
ing ability to plan and inaugurate great policies. The 
relationship has been one of advice and service. In 
the early days the financial problem was insignificant. 
In recent times the fact that the employed secretaries 
of the International Committee to such a large extent 
raise great sums of money for the current expenses of 
the committee tends to lessen the control by the local 
Associations. The agency raising the money for any 
enterprise usually desires to control its expenditure. 
The danger is that while theoretically the local As- 
sociation is independent, practically the international 
group of able experts will have a monopoly of the in- 
formation and influence necessary for action. 

One is reminded of Herbert Spencer's remark that 
the regulative agency of any organism tends to appro- 
priate advantage to itself at the expense of the other 
parts of the organism. Local autonomy concurrent 
with central efficiency demands a proper balance in 
relationships which is always difficult to maintain. 
The Young Men's Christian Association has estab- 
lished an equilibrium by providing for an advisory 
relationship. By this method the local society solicits 



188 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

the help of the supervisory body and the supervisory 
body can only maintain its power and prestige by be- 
ing able to render the service needed. This was the 
great contribution of this period to the American 
work.* 

It is an interesting fact that the early conventions 
refused to dictate the conditions for active member- 
ship in the local Association. The first convention 
recommended the evangelical Church basis but voted 
that to enforce this was a matter beyond its jurisdic- 
tion. The second convention ruled that compulsion 
in this matter by a convention was out of order and 
contented itself with a recommendation. This was 
the true position for the convention to take. The 
Portland Convention of 1869 introduced a ground of 
bitterness, which will continue until it is removed, by 
refusing to recognize Associations admitting mem- 
bers of Unitarian and Universalist churches to active 

* But this is not democracy. Democracy does not consist in inde- 
pendency of the local individual nor of the local group of individuals, 
otherwise the United States would be but an enormous number of 
unrelated persons or neighborhoods or synthetic classes. Democracy 
is a system of relationships whereby the whole people control and 
the whole people are controlled. This pre-Civil War period of 
confederation has contributed a condition to the twentieth century 
Associations wherein it is euphony to call them a "movement" ex- 
cepting on special occasions or for special causes. The Associations 
are not in fact a democracy either locally nor nationally. They come 
nearer being a bureaucracy locally, and competing principalities 
nationally, tempered by benevolence, humanity, piety, imitation, and 
an indomitable purpose to succeed; but as an example of democracy, 
they are very nearly free from the taint of either pure democracy or 
representative democracy. The American Association movement still 
is in somewhat similar condition to the colonial federation in which 
the various colonies had such a maladjustment and poor articulation 
that the nation itself was flouted from within and without, particu- 
larly from within. 

The Association Movement yet awaits that unity of mind and 
purpose wherein a nationally democratic federation, with control 
from the bottom up, will be secured; where its officials will be 
clothed with the proper supervisory authority, subject to definite 
controls, and where the local units must assume financial responsi- 
bility.— R. E. L. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD 189 

membership. This amounts to an invasion of the 
autonomy of the local Association. As a matter of 
fact, the basis has never been drastically enforced. 
Numerous college Associations have bases of their 
own. Other Associations evade the tests by subter- 
fuges. There are large denominations accepted by 
the Association, such as the Congregationalists, who 
repudiate the doctrinal statements of the Portland 
test and are thus ineligible if the test were carried out. 

In doctrinal teaching the Associations in all parts 
of the world held to the five leading evangelical doc- 
trines stated in traditional conservative form. They 
believed in the deity of Jesus and worshiped Him as 
one of the Trinity, in the infallible authority of the 
Bible in matters of doctrine, in the fall of man and 
the substitutionary view of the atonement. God ac- 
cepted repentant sinners because Jesus died on the 
cross. They believed in eternal punishment for the 
wicked and that salvation was redemption not only 
from sin but from eternal torment. These doctrines 
were in no way originated by the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association but were taught by the churches 
which most of the members attended. The great re- 
vival of this period in America was possible because 
of this general unanimity of belief. Dr. Thomas W. 
Chalmers in his volume on "The Noon Prayer Meet- 
ing" (p. 54) states, "All . . . concurred in the belief 
that men are lost by nature, that salvation is freely 
offered to them through the blood of the cross, and 
that it is the province of the Holy Spirit to convert 
them to the believing reception of the gracious pro- 
vision thus made." 

He gives an account of a lawyer who had formerly 
regarded Jesus as a great teacher who testified (p. 
102) : "I did not think of Him as the Crucified, as 
bearing my sins in His own body on the tree, as suf- 
fering the just for the unjust, that He might bring us 



190 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

to God, as wounded for our trangressions and bruised 
for our iniquity and the chastisement of our peace 
being upon Him. I am here a sinner hoping I have 
been pardoned through Him as my Saviour." With 
the acceptance of these statements of belief so uni- 
form it is the more surprising that the conventions 
did not insist on an evangelical Church test for active 
membership, but it must be borne in mind that the 
great anxiety of the leaders was to establish the Con- 
federation and secure recognition by the local Asso- 
ciations of the Central Committee. It may be added 
that outside of New England the conservative view 
was so dominant that no enforcement of belief seemed 
necessary. 

The attitude toward the Catholic Church was quite 
generally hostile.* In the second New York Report 
(p. 9), the corresponding secretary, C. A. Davidson, 
and President Howard Crosby speak approvingly of 
the Catholic Association at Cork, Ireland. The re- 
port states: 

"A Young Men's Christian Association has also 
been recently started in Cork, Ireland, under the aus- 
pices of Roman Catholic young men. 

"We regard this movement with great interest, for 
although much of error is mingled with the faith of 
this body, yet we trust the efforts of these young men 
to attain the end proposed in their constitution will 

* The Association of course inherited the anathemas of the Catho- 
lic Church against Protestantism and has always been the recipient 
of the latent, and sometimes the open, opposition of the Catholic 
hierarchy. Strangely contrasted with this is the very large use made 
of the facilities of the modern Associations by Catholic young men 
generally. The eagerness and appreciation with which they made 
use of Association privileges seem to be only intensified by the 
opposition of certain high Catholic authorities. 

Many of the Associations have studiously avoided all efforts at 
proselyting and are only anxious to help the Catholic young men 
in their membership to become better examples of the high ethical 
teaching of their own Bible and Church. — R. E. L. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD 191 

be crowned by the blessing of heaven. Our hope is 
strengthened by the following extract from their con- 
stitution. 

" 'The object of this society is the mutual improve- 
ment and the extension of the spirit of religion and 
brotherly love. 

" 'The means adopted will be prayer, frequentation 
of the sacraments, public lectures, a library, and read- 
ing room. Meeting for public prayer shall be held on 
one evening in every week and it shall be compulsory 
on every member to attend such meetings at least 
once a month.' " 

This attitude, however, was not the one taken in 
London, where the ninth report of the Association 
states (p. 58), "It is not with unmingled regret that 
your committee notice that the Cork Branch of the 
Young Men's Christian Association has to contend 
against an efficiently organized Roman Catholic 
Young Men's Christian Society which has been re- 
cently formed. It has already 500 members." 

This pre-Civil-War period saw the beginning of em- 
igration to America on a large scale from Roman 
Catholic countries, particularly from Southern Ire- 
land. It was during this period that anti-Catholic so- 
cieties arose and the "Know-Nothing" party had its 
brief history. There were few if any Catholic as- 
sociate members in the Association. The general 
feeling in the American Associations was probably 
voiced in the report of President Crosby"s predeces- 
sor, O. P. Woodford. He said (First New York Re- 
port, 1853, p. 11) : "It is well for us to remember that 
there is another Association which takes to itself the 
name of Jesus. ... Its influence upon the world has 
been great for it has had and still has its branches in 
almost every country — its activity is ceaseless, its 
ambition boundless. Cut off from the ordinary sym- 
pathies of our nature, its members thirst for power, 



192 YO UNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA TION 

and leave no means untried for its attainment. Pain- 
ful as it is for us to contend against any who bear the 
name of Christ, we must contend against them, as 
enemies of the best interests of mankind. Upon them 
the most odious tyrannies of the civilized world seem 
to rest. . . . They deny to the people the precious 
word which God has given, with the special injunc- 
tion that they shall search it to avoid error and to 
find salvation. . . . Ignorance, immorality, oppres- 
sion, and decay are the inheritance of the people 
whom they control. They are the agents of a poten- 
tate who claims to sit paramount over priests and 
kings and they sustain his claims secretly or openly 
with ceaseless vigilance. . . . The presence here of 
an active band of priests who owe allegiance to a 
foreign prince and who allow no toleration, no Bible, 
no freedom of thought, no protest against persecu- 
tion we regard as a dangerous element." 

In a later report of the London Association (Eight- 
eenth Report, London, 1863, p. 25) it is stated that 
"the idolatrous Church of Rome is extending its influ- 
ence over the masses of the people, adding new attrac- 
tions to those by which it has hitherto sought to en- 
trap the unwary and pressing with persistent zeal for 
recognition by the State and support from the public 
funds of the country. . . . Those twin sisters, Infidel- 
ity and Romanism, thus strengthened in themselves, 
find free course for their machinations through the 
supineness of a nation which owes its all of position 
and privilege and its liberties civil and religious to 
the Bible and the Protestant faith." 

These statements from London and New York 
show the prevailing attitude of intense Protestantism 
and unfriendly feeling toward the Catholic Church 
on the part of most Association leaders. There has 
been a recrudescence of this feeling since the great 
World War. This has been aroused in Europe by the 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD 193 

activity of the Association in the newly created 
states on the continent which has called out protests 
from Catholic prelates.* 

In America the Knights of Columbus have in- 
creased the tension by unfriendly acts and propa- 
ganda. The Pope has issued a bull denouncing the 
Association as a dangerous organization. This situ- 
ation is quite unlike that which prevailed during the 
World War and for a number of years prior in Amer- 
ica. The adoption of the fourfold program for the 
development of the whole man in body, mind, and 
spirit made the Association buildings attractive to all 
classes of young men. Catholic young men were wel- 
comed as associate members in large numbers. They 
came as "beneficiaries" not as "participants" into the 
Association. No attempt was made to proselyte and 
a most harmonious relationship existed not toward 
the Roman Church but toward young Catholic lay- 
men. This developed during the World War often 
into fellowship and friendship which unfortunately 
have waned considerably since. 

During the period from 1855 to 1861 the Associa- 
tions were strongly Protestant in their feeling and 
thoroughly conservative in their doctrinal teaching. 

On the continent in the French-speaking area the 
young men with Christian aspirations were sur- 
rounded with such an unfriendly environment that 
their instinctive longing for fellowship and mutual 
encouragement linked them together, while in Ger- 
many social cleavage between classes assured that a 
work for journeymen apprentices would not encroach 
on any other field. In America the New York and 

* These protests only seem to have intensified the desire of those 
European peoples to domesticate the Association amongst them. 
The Association has no inclination to warfare, it does not set itself 
chiefly to credal or dogmatic propaganda. Its main object is service 
of its fellowmen in what it conceives to be the Master's spirit. — 
R. E. L. 



194 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

Buffalo Associations were the only large organiza- 
tions which persisted in limiting their efforts to young 
men. The revival swept the great body of Associa- 
tions into its current and made them laymen's so- 
cieties for general evangelism. It is conceivable that 
Christian young men of ardent zeal might be banded 
together for such a purpose and that they might de- 
velop a permanent organization. This was practi- 
cally Dwight L. Moody's idea for the Association. It 
is very doubtful, however, if such an organization 
would have been more than ephemeral. Such an aim 
is too transient in character and such a society would 
constantly conflict with the work of the ministry. 

While the American Associations failed in defining 
the field of the Association they were all unanimous 
in insisting that its aim was purely religious. There 
was but one clearly defined aim. This was to win 
young men to accept Jesus as their Saviour. All 
"secular" agencies were of an inferior character and 
should be eliminated whenever they ceased to pro- 
mote this aim. There was little or no conception of 
the unity of personality or the unity of life. The body 
was only the home of the soul during its brief period 
of probation on earth and as a source of temptation 
was to be controlled and kept under. Libraries and 
educational classes were expensive and only to be in- 
troduced where necessary and always to be made sub- 
ordinate to the religious work. 

Recreation was grudgingly admitted to be neces- 
sary to youth but should be employed only if it could 
not be otherwise secured, and then only guardedly. 
The conception of the Association as an agency for 
the cultivation of Christian manhood later cham- 
pioned by McBurney and defined by Gulick was un- 
known. But for the development of this larger and 
broader program the historian must conclude that 
the Association movement would never have evolved 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD 195 

into an important organization or made any distinc- 
tive contribution to religious life or thought. It was 
this new social ideal evolved in America and pro- 
moted by the American International Committee 
that gave the Association fresh vigor and power, that 
made the American movement preeminent, t?hat led 
large numbers of devoted men to become employed 
officers. It was this conception that made the Amer- 
ican type of work sought after by leaders in mission 
fields and later engrafted the American ideal of As- 
sociation endeavor upon the Associations of the Old 
World. 

This broad conception of religious work as an effort 
to develop the whole man has transformed religious 
endeavor in the churches. It is in sharp contrast with 
the ascetic ideal of religion and is slowly substituting 
the social ideal in its place. Religious education, rec^ 
reation, and social service have become the program 
of the modern community church. These ideas found 
their first expression in the Association which has 
pioneered them in the face of relentless opposition 
both from within and from without its membership.* 

In 1857 Darwin published his "Origin of Species." 

* The conviction will grow upon the intelligent reader of these 
pages that almost elaborate efforts were made during this period of 
the Association's history, on the part of the ultra-conservative and 
of ttimes reactionary element, to capture and control this new society. 
The religious progressives of the day under review in Germany, 
Great Britain, and America, did not dominate the organization. 
Langdon was the saving element in the United States, and the genial 
spirit of George Williams in England softened the avowedly dog- 
matic position of the British Associations. Their formulated docu- 
ments were very much less responsive than were their personal and 
organized relationships to the need of young men. 

The student will examine with keen appreciation the saving influ- 
ences which brought the American Associations along with the 
intelligence of the times and achieved the process of freeing them 
ultimately from the good, but it must be said in frankness, unedu- 
cated leaders who too often attempted to control them. 

The standardization of the educational process within them, the 
founding of colleges for the education of the secretarial staff, the 



196 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

This appeared unnoticed by Association leaders but 
the doctrine of evolution was destined to change the 
temper of religious thought and create an atmosphere 
in which a new conception of man, of nature, of the 
Bible, and of God would grow. The physical uni- 
verse was seen to be subject to law. It was soon rec- 
ognized that the spiritual nature of man was equally 
subject to the laws of the same God. Religious edu- 
cation, conceived of as the development of the entire 
personality in all its powers of body, mind, and spirit, 
became the program of the Association — evolution 
applied to the expanding life of the individual. 

Froebel and Pestalozzi introduced into education 
the idea that its aim should be the development of 
the entire personality. The Association was the first 
agency to make use of this conception in religious 
work. This was, however, brought about empirically 
by the method of trial and error; the survival of the 
fittest. There was no conscious philosophy of the 
movement, the leaders had no plan of working for 
the development of the entire personality and leading 
the individual into social service. The Associations 
that did this succeeded and the philosophy of the 
movement was formulated afterwards. It was the 
new Association which arose after the American Civil 
War which developed this new program. Those so- 
cieties which adopted it survived and grew; the others 
disappeared. The progressive Associations secured 
employed officers, property, and members. The 
purely evangelistic societies, based on the narrower 
conception of personality and the ascetic view of re- 
fact that hundreds of these units are in universities and colleges 
where the stream of thought flows more freely and is less often 
dammed up of purpose, and the increasing desire of the Association 
to serve the unprivileged as well as the privileged classes, will bring 
the movement forward out of narrow beginnings into a great, 
progressive, Christian societv, devoted to the commonwealth of 
God.— R. E. L. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD 197 

ligion, were burdened with debts, were without sec- 
retaries or property, and found few supporters. 

We must pay tribute to the sincerity and far-reach- 
ing influence of the leaders of the Confederation 
period. They were endeavoring to do a purely re- 
ligious work but they builded better than they knew. 
In permitting the so-called secular agencies even a 
subordinate place they were laying foundations for 
the broader educational program of later years. They 
were discovering the vital needs of young men and 
learning how to develop personality. 

The Christian college was seeking to give the same 
development in a more intensive way to the young 
men who could devote four or more years to living 
under its regime. The American college seeks to 
develop the whole man in body, mind, and spirit, and 
train him for citizenship. The Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association of today seeks to render in a more 
popular way this same service to the vast multitude 
of young men who cannot attend college. The Asso- 
ciation has become the all-round educational agency 
including religious training for the young man in 
daily life instead of a purely evangelistic agency. 

The leaders of this period developed the interna- 
tional organization and laid the local foundations 
which are making this idea possible. 

It may be said that the Association was founded 
and continued until 1861 upon an ascetic ideal of re- 
ligion, a conservative, dogmatic, and traditional theol- 
ogy, and the conception of personality implied in the 
doctrine of "total depravity." Evolution was to give 
a new conception of the evolving spirit from child- 
hood to manhood. Upon this foundation the Asso- 
ciation was to construct its new program of religious 
education for the training of the whole personality. 
The social awakening was to give a new, deeper, and 



198 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

broader idea of service which was to embrace the 
whole of life and all human relationships. 

Upon this foundation the Association was to build 
its program of social service which was destined to 
influence the work of the Church and all agencies for 
human betterment throughout the world. How this 
new type of Association arose will be told in the story 
of the American Associations following the Civil 
War. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY, VOL. II 

"The Story of My Early Life" (1831-1857)— William Chauncy 
Langdon. 

(In typewritten form in the Historical Library, International 
Young Men's Christian Association College.) 

First Annual Report of the Washington Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation, 1854, 75 pp. 

Young Men's Magazine — Editor, Richard C. McCormick, New York, 
1857-1859. 

"The Origin and Development of the Student Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association Movement in North America" — (Thesis in type- 
written form by Clarence P. Shedd, 1914, 63 pp., Clark Univer- 
sity). 

"The Intercollegiate Department" — (Thesis in typewritten form by 
John D. Stehman, 1901, International Young Men's Christian 
Association College). 

"History of the North American Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tions" — R. C. Morse, Association Press, New York, 1913, 290 
pp. 

"The Life of Sir George Williams" — J. E. Hodder Williams, Asso- 
ciation Press, New York, 1915, 358 pp. 

"My Life with Young Men, Fifty Years in the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association" — R. C. Morse, Association Press, New York, 
1918, 547 pp. 

"Fifty Years' Work Among Young Men in All Lands" — Published 
at Exeter Hall, Strand, on the occasion of the celebration of the 
Jubilee in London, June, 1894, 326 pp. 

"Life of Robert R. McBurney" — L. L. Doggett, International Com- 
mittee, Young Men's Christian Associations, New York City, 
1902, 280 pp. 



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